Never Wrong a Fairy
by The Author's Mighty Pen
Summary: Two worlds meet and disaster strikes. The repair of a broken heart is never an easy task.
1. All Fairies Have Wings

She folded her wings, brushing the white feathers down. From her perch in the tallest tree on the highest cliff she could see everything. The whole of her world stretched before her, in all its colorful glory, and she loved it.

As much as she loved the wind in her face when she thundered down from a great height. As much as she loved the warmth of he sun when she rose above the clouds to greet it. As much as she loved feeling the energies of the earth as they spun together around her.

With a sigh she sat back in the tree until something above her cracked. She looked up, climbing to the snapped branch and put her hands around it. As she shut her eyes she breathed deeply, synchronizing her energies with that of the tree itself. In her mind's eye she could see the fibers of the tree reforming, making stronger bonds, and mending.

When she opened her eyes she smiled, withdrawing her hands to kiss the branch that appeared as though nothing had broken. "There, that's better isn't it?"

Turning back to the sky she closed her eyes again, feeling the wind on her face and rippling through the feathers on her wings. A slight twitch in her fingers signaled her body's response to the elements and the focus of her finely attuned senses on following where the wind went. Senses that had her tipping to her toes to fall from her height.

The rush of the fall straight down thrilled her. Wings tucked tightly to her body the air roared in her ears. Then, at the last moment, her eyes opened as her wings did.

Catching the thermal just right she shot straight up into the sky, steering slightly to correct course. With enough wind under her she aimed for an island in the middle of the large lake that grew and shrank with the rains to form the moors. Passing the other creatures of her home with waves and spoken greetings she landed lightly, pulling her wings back to avoid knocking any of the smaller creatures over with an ill-timed buffet.

The shrill twittering amongst a group of sparkling fairies colored like varieties of roses drew her attention. She walked over to them, smiling and clearing her throat to inform them of her presence. They immediately hushed, giving a series of looks back and forth amongst themselves, and finally the largest and brightest of the fairies spoke.

"There's been an incident."

"What kind of incident?" They all paused, as if unsure how to describe what they meant. "I'd rather you spoke frankly since it's giving you such trouble."

"The border guards found a human skulking near the caves."

"The diamond caves?" She pivoted, narrowing her eyes toward the specified location. "When was this?"

"Just minutes ago. We were in debate as to how to tell you."

Without a response she lifted off, jumping high before opening her wings to beat a tattoo in the air. The water skimmed beneath her, the creatures there following her progress, as chittering noises of those following filled her mind. She blocked them out to dedicate all her concentration on the problem at hand.

Within a few feet she saw the stout, rock figures holding their clubs at the ready. Two of them bashed against the cliff, reaching large hands toward a crack but not having success in drawing their prey forward. She landed, fluffing her wings to knock the two forward.

"That's not how we go about this." She reprimanded and they stepped back, looking downcast and properly chastised. "We handle this like the civilized beings we are."

One of them munched its rock jaws at her, grinding out a sound that had her giving an exasperated gasp. "I don't care if he looks like food, he's not. He's our neighbor and despite his obviously poor manners we treat him with respect."

She stepped forward, shooing the others back a distance and tried to peek into the hole. "Hello? Are you still in there?"

"Yes." The voice was hollow, echoing over the diamond walls.

"Then come out please. You'll frighten the crystal foxes if you stay in there much longer and they're in breeding season. Their pups need to feel safe and you're in the way."

"If I come out those ugly rock things'll bash my head against a wall and leave my brains to leak from my skull."

"That's rather graphic and not at all true. They're simply exploring and they don't know how breakable your lot is." She sighed, "You've got to come out or I'll be forced to drag you out and you won't like it."

Slowly, creeping almost as if he expected any moment to be beaten with a weapon, the man emerged. She held her hand out to him and he stepped closer. When he went to take her hand she drew back, shaking her head.

"I meant for you to give me what you've taken."

"I haven't taken anything." She raised an eyebrow and he dug in his pocket to withdraw a few diamonds.

He dumped them in her hand and she weighed them a moment before holding out her hand again. "There are more."

"I need these to buy food or I'll starve."

"And if you remove them from the moors they'll be dust. Further, they're the food for growing crystal fox cubs. Take them and you'll kill them."

He stopped, "I didn't know that."

"Few do." She extended her hand, "Please."

He dropped the diamonds in her hand and she tossed them back into the cave. She dusted her hands off, clapping them together, and noticed his stare. With a quick turn of her head she followed the path of his eyes of her wings. As their eyes met he shook himself, "I'm sorry. I've never seen an angel before."

She laughed, "I'm hardly an angel."

"What else has wings as white as yours?"

"Doves, swans, a few pelicans…" She stopped, "Have you never seen a fairy before?"

"No."

"Then you don't know all fairies have wings?"

"Are they all as beautiful as yours?"

She laughed, "My wings are unique but that's because of the kind of fairy I am. All fairy wings are functional and beautiful in their own way."

"I wouldn't know. You're the first fairy I've met."

"Then you've never come to the moors before?" He shook his head again and she directed her hand toward a path. "Then let me help you find your way back out of them."

They walked to the edge of the trees, his dazed eyes letting her know he was completely turned around and would not find his way inside again. They walked to a line of staggered stones, each carved with a menacing face and pointed teeth to warn away the unwary or the foolish. She waved a hand toward the open field before them and he finally snapped back to the present.

"There you are, your home."

"It's not my home. Not really."

"Then where do you call your home?" He pointed to a castle in the distance and she brightened. "You're a prince?"

He paused, "No, I'm just a servant. But one day… one day I'll be a prince."

"I'm sure your parents would be very proud." He hung his head, "Do you not have any parents?"

"They died, with fever, when I was a child."

"You're a child now."

"I'm a man now." He stuck his hands to his hips. "I'll be twelve soon and that's old enough for anything."

"I guess if you risked the moors then you are." She nodded her head toward him. "I wish you well and warn you not to try returning here."

"Why?"

"It's dangerous." She motioned back toward the trees. "They won't be forgiving a second time and if I'm not there to help then you might end up with your brains leaking from your skull."

She went to jump to the sky but stopped when he spoke. "What if I did want to come back? To visit you?"

"You'd have to ask for me or they wouldn't know you. And you'd have to give them your name so I'd know you." She faced him, "What is your name?"

"They call me Green." He extended a hand, "And what do they call you?"

"Anna." She shook his hand, smiling at him. "But I'd still say you should stay away. The moors are no place for your kind. Just like your world is no place for me."

"Maybe not yet. But one day it could be." He released her hand. "Thank you, for saving me Anna."

"You're welcome Green." She shot to the sky, spreading her wings to catch a thermal and rose higher.

From her position she watched him crane his neck backward to see her before walking away. She felt a rise in her chest as he kept looking back. Despite all her words to him to stay away, she wanted him to return. She wanted to see Green again.


	2. Love on the Moors

She heard his voice. Her ears perked up and she smiled to herself, taking flight to the edge of the moors. Silent as anything she floated above the line of stones, warning potential intruders away, and saw him walking the edge with his hands cupped around his mouth to call out her name.

Anna landed gently, surprising Green. "Is your name really just Green or do you have two names? I've always been told that humans have two names. One for their fathers and one for themselves."

"Is that what you've been thinking about since I left?" He tried to hide his own grin at her curiosity.

"Not the only thing I've been thinking about." Anna smiled back at him. "I've been wondering about a lot of things."

"What kinds of things?"

"Your name, why humans only walk on legs instead of have wings, how do you survive the cold of winter with only cloth to protect you. How do you-?"

"I think," Green held up a hand, "I can only answer one question at a time."

"Alright, do you have more than one name?"

"Yes. My parents called me Alexander."

"But no one calls you that anymore?"

Green shook his head, "Since my parents died everyone just calls me 'Green' because I was found wandering on one just beyond the edges of the castle grounds."

"And they took you in?"

"The cook there did. Then I was needed in the upper halls, to serve there, and one day I might even rise to be a knight or something else grand."

"I don't like knights." Anna walked along the edge of the stones, Green staying on his side of them but matching her pace. "Every king sends them to the edges of our forests to conquer us in large droves or a few of them come in scouting parties to capture a fairy or two. Some try to burn us out, others hack at the trees to destroy our defenses…"

Anna stopped, smoothing her hand down a tree with marks gouged deep in the wood now growing with moss. "They want to take what isn't theirs to have."

"And what's that?"

"The magic here." Anna opened her arms and turned a circle. "Every king of your people wants to come here and take what makes us special. They want to steal it for themselves because they're greedy and vain and wicked creatures."

"Not all of us are that."

"Enough of you are. It's why the guardians wanted to capture you, so you'd never return with your stolen goods and be rewarded for your thievery."

"I'm not a thief."

"Anyone who steals is a thief."

"What if they steal to eat?"

"It still isn't theirs."

Green snorted, "You've never starved have you?"

"I have, actually." Anna faced him, "I don't abide people taking what isn't theirs, no matter the excuse."

"Then you've never stolen?" Anna shook her head, "Not even to survive?"

"In our moments of greatest need we either find the strength within ourselves to rise to the occasion and be greater than ourselves or we stumble into our baser selves. That is the choice we make."

"You're very high minded."

"I've learned much living on my own."

"Is that why you're their queen?"

"Queen?" Anna frowned, "I don't know what that means."

"You're their ruler." Green pointed into the trees. "They listened to your commands, did what you said. That makes you their Queen."

"No," Anna shook her head, "They listened because they respect me. I've given my life to protecting the moors and they know that I'd never make a decision to endanger their safety or put them at risk. They trust me so they listen to me. It's quite simple."

"But why would they listen to you? You're just a girl."

"Because I'm the strongest of them."

"You?"

"Don't sound so surprised." Anna gave a satisfied smile, "If you look in nature long enough Master Green you'll find that women tend to be the strongest."

They walked along, talking and laughing occasionally as they paced the length of the stones. The bend in the line of stones almost forced them to turn when they heard a bell in the distance. Anna squinted toward it while Green gasped. "I'm late."

"I'm sorry." Anna apologized, "I distracted you."

"It's nothing." Green waved a hand at her, jogging away. "I've got to go."

"Will you be back?" Anna called after him and smiled when she heard Green shout his answer.

"I will. I promise."

And so it continued. Every few days Green would call for her at the edge of the moors and Anna landed on the other side of the stones for them to walk together. Before the sun hit the highest peak he would be away, running at a mad dash to get away in time for whatever duties occupied him, and Anna would rise into the sky on her side of the stones to watch him go.

Their conversations changed, deepened, and lengthened. She noted the change in his uniforms as he shed the garb of a kitchen servant to a hall boy to a footman. When he finally came to her, dressed as a soldier, he offered her something she never expected.

He drew his sword, passing it to her over the line, and she handled it with care. After a moment she handed it back to him. "It's beautiful."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What else could I say?"

"Aren't you proud of me? Excited for me?"

"I am proud you reached such a goal, that they respect your abilities and your courage, and I am overjoyed that you are happy."

"But you're not happy for me?"

"Why would I be happy that they taught you to kill?" Anna shook her head, "I'll never be happy that one day they'll send you here."

"They won't send us here." Green urged with hands, "The King has no interest in the moors. He's not going to bring us to attack here."

"But he will. They always do." Anna looked at the ground. "You'll get distracted now. They'll convince you that we're evil, that we're demons, and you'll kill us like the rest of them will."

"Don't you know anything Anna?" Green crossed the line, taking her hands. "I could never do anything to hurt you."

"You don't know that."

"But I do." Green put a hand to the side of her face, "I love you Anna. I could never hurt you."

She felt his lips on hers and for a moment she froze. But then her wings lifted her from the ground slightly, acting of their own accord, and Green broke the kiss. They laughed a moment, Anna hovering slightly above the ground, and returned to their kiss.

When he left Anna realized she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again. To see him again. To love him again.


	3. Greed of Men

Anna walked along the tree limb, pacing it again. Occasionally she focused on the fields in the distance, those outside the line of trees providing a defense for the Moors. She took a deep breath, turning on her heel again to walk over the tree limb before she jumped from the edge.

Soaring down she opened her wings, catching a thermal to send her spiraling upward again. She reached the peak and opened her wings, taking in the full radiance of the sun for a moment before diving back downward. With her wings tucked tightly to her side, the wind howling in her ears, it was all she could do not to force herself to pull up.

But her compact form broke into the water just under the largest of the falls, and shot under the surface like a missile. The creatures of the deep water swam around her, forming trails of bubbles and wake in interweaving webs until she pointed back to the surface again. The break sent a cascade of water raining down around her massive wings as they beat themselves dry to climb to the sky again.

Her perch in the clouds took her over the Moors, drying out in the rush of wind. As Anna shook herself, smiling at the life frolicking so far below her, something in the distance caught her eye. She turned, her face filled with smiles for whatever game Green decided he wanted to play today.

There was no game. There was no Green. There was only the rise of dust and the thunder of feet pounding the ground while drawing ever closer. The tramp of heavy metal and the drone of soldiers making their way over the fields toward the line of stones defending the Moors.

Anna set her jaw and dived low. Her wings unfurled to their greatest extent, almost brushing over trees ten feet on either side as she flew low. Manipulating her body around the rock, islands, and trees came almost as easily as the speed in her motions. Her eyes focused on one goal and one goal only.

The distant line, taking direction from their King, stopped just short of the large rocks with their menacing faces. She burst from the trees, startling many of the men in their armor that reflected tainted light toward her eyes. As they took steps backward she landed lightly on the tallest of the defensive stones in their view.

Crouching, keeping one hand firmly on the stone, she shook her head at them. "We want no trouble with you but you will have it with us should you continue forward. Return from whence you came and never trouble us here again."

"We don't take orders from a winged Elf!" The King yelled at her while the others jeered behind him, shouting their own mockery. "We're here for the prizes you keep locked for yourself behind these stones and behind those trees."

Anna frowned at the accusations. She went to speak and then spotted someone in the crowd. Her face fell when her sharp eyes noted Green, buried between his brothers in their metal armor with their tools of death about them.

Standing taller Anna turned back to their King, "Leave now or risk my wrath in full upon your head and the heads of your men."

He only laughed at her before turning to the man next to him, "Bring me her head."

"Battalion!" They marched forward and Anna dropped both hands to the stone beneath her.

"I call upon those who live in the shadows." Her fingers twitched on the stone, tendrils of gold seeping through her fingers, "I call upon those who live in stone and tree and sky. I call upon those who live in water and breathe with me as one. I call upon the Moors to fight with me now."

The stone under her shifted and Anna crouched low before springing high into the air. Her wings furled out to catch her in midair a moment. It was enough time to see the trees take shape as their trunks and branches broke away to form guardians of wood. Or to see the rock guards trundled forward with their stone clubs swinging in the air. Or to watched the very ground shake as creatures exploded from inside it to send earth flying about them. And especially to see the stones with menacing faces crack and groan to pull themselves from their positions and howl through their massive jaws at the approaching army.

Anna swooped low, tightening her wings to bowl soldiers over. The crunch and clang of metal on stone gave her a moment's pause to watch soldiers falling under the crush of fists and clubs. Or the cries of pain when wooden staves or driving spears ended a foolish advance in its tracks.

She aimed for the King, directing her shoulder to knock him off his horse. He hit the ground hard and she turned upward, using her momentum to make another drive. Her fingers clawed at the breastplate of one soldier to haul him up before dropping him back to the ground. Another caught the edge of her wing and spun off to the side while the force of her fist with a golden glow about it was enough to leave five men flying away from her.

Turning to take on the King once more she went to gain the skies when something stopped her. A hand, wrenched on her wing and it took all Anna's power to throw the attacker back. Her hand coated with gold as she pivoted, crouching to face her new foe.

In that moment her hand faltered a moment. The sword held at her shook in his hands. Their eyes met and Anna noted the fear, the desperation, the anger, and the sorrow there. All reflected in her own eyes as she stared at Green.

"Could you truly betray me?" With a wave her hand the gold sheen faded, just as the other sounds about her dulled to a muffled cacophony of nonsense noise. "Did you tell them that there was something in the Moors for them?"

"I had no choice Anna." Green put his other hand on his sword hilt, trying to steady the wobble as he took a step forward. "They saw me visit you. They threatened to kill me."

"And you'd kill them as a result?" Anna threw her hand toward the Moors. "You'd let them die to save yourself?"

"I didn't want this to happen."

"I thought you loved me." Anna shook her head, "I told you they were all the same. That your King would send you here to root us out. To kill us all."

"It's not like that."

"Then tell me what it's like." Anna demanded, circling Green with his sword between them. "Tell me how he's not like all the others who came here looking for what is not theirs to have?"

"He wants to use it for his people."

"For himself, you mean."

"No, it's not like that."

Anna stopped, pointing at Green, "You're just like them. You've become them in their company, turned yourself to be them."

"I always was them, Anna." Green pounded on his chest with a fist, "I'm a human. Always was, always will be."

"But you didn't have to be them. You could've been different." Anna sniffed, "You said you'd never do anything to hurt me. You swore that to me, do you remember?"

Green's face was awash with confusion and frustration, tears and gritted teeth betraying what he wanted to lock inside. "I know."

"You said it in the same breath where you claimed to love me. Is this the kind of love you meant?"

Green risked a look around them and Anna finally noticed the battle again. The soldiers retreated, some in a full out run, while the commanders attempted to rally them again. She turned back to Green.

"You can live with them or strike me down here. That's your choice."

The sword wavered a moment more before Green dropped it, falling to his knees. He snatched it from the ground, forcing the sword into his scabbard, and met Anna's eyes one last time. His fingers clawed at the ground to get his footing and he ran to his lagging King, pulling the man over his shoulders before following the others.

Anna watched him go, her heart breaking in the quiet that settled over them with a choking efficiency.

With no more spoken words Anna turned to the field. The fallen of the Moors were gathered by their brethren, retreating back to ground and tree with a touch of Anna's hands on them, so only the men remained. Her smile of gratitude rested on the stone golems before they retook their positions as sentinels, resting in place as if they never moved with their jaws gaping wide.

In no time at all it was as if the soldiers fell in the field on their own. No signs of the Moors, except Anna wending her way through the field, gave any indication any of the creatures of the Moors had ventured out from behind the trees. Only the crows, circling from the sky above, could even say anything had altered.

Anna paced the line of the stones, her wings drooping heavily on her back. The wind whispered to her, biding her fly, but her heart was too heavy. Even the invitation of the trees, to rejoin those on the other side, tore at her.

Instead she paced the tree line, walking the edge of the worlds that separated them so finally she thought she could never be whole again. Darkness descended, the sounds of the night increased, the groans of the earth echoed under her feet, and still she kept pace wearing the same furrow in the ground between the stones. The stones where she always met him.

Until a voice called to her. A voice she recognized, one that made her heart soar with joy and crushed it anew. A voice that once offered her the world only to steal it.

Anna turned, watching Green run toward her. Her feet moved to a defensive stance but he held up his hands, shaking his head. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Then why come back?"

"Because they mean to kill you." He pointed just behind him, "They're coming to kill you because the King is dying. It's his final wish and the one who brings him evidence of your death will marry his daughter."

"Why tell me this?"

"Because," Green stepped toward her, taking her hand. She flinched but did not retract it, "I do love you and I would never hurt you."

"Then follow me." Anna led Green into the trees, hiding in the foliage as the sounds of muffled shouts and curses filled the air.

They scrunched down together, quiet as the men milled just out of their reach. Soon they gave up, retreating away with groans and angry mutterings. When they were sure the men were gone, Green went to pull away but Anna held fast to his arm. He turned to her, confusion visible on his face with the weak moonlight that filtered through the trees.

"Don't go yet."

Green followed her to the edge of the Moors. They sat there, talking quietly as the night drew on, and even shared the drink Green offered her. The taste sat strangely on her tongue and Anna tried to swallow it back but the more she did the more tired she became.

"I'm sorry," She blinked, struggling against the unexpected pull of sleep. "I can't keep my eyes open."

"It's alright." Green offered her his shoulder, "I'm here. Just rest on me and everything will be alright."

Anna smiled, leaning into him. His arm came around her, stroking her wings, and pulled her closer to him. Her eyelids finally fluttered closed as the sounds of the Moors and the rock of him against her lulled her to sleep.


	4. Cruelty of Man

The pain woke her first. A dull ache where her wingbones rested between her shoulder blades. She reached a hand back, moving her body to attend to the problem. Stopping mid-twist, Anna cried out as the pain struck like lightning through her limbs. With a sob she tried again, shifting to reach toward the source of pain. But she moved too far and fell sideways.

Blinking away the confusion in her mind, muddling her thoughts with the intensity of the pain there, Anna reached again to her wings.

And felt nothing.

Her head thrashed frantically from side to side but her white wings no longer edged her periphery. Fumbling her hands over her back she only felt the roughed nubs of her wingbones as if something had sawed at them. Her body fell forward, no longer offset by the glorious weight of her beautiful, white wings.

Anna stumbled to her feet but fell into the tree nearest her, trying to get her footing as her body struggled to comprehend the weight difference that now tied her to the earth. Her fingers dug into the bark of the tree as her feet slipped on the ground. She tripped to her knees, catching herself on her palms before reaching to the tree for support again.

When she did, her eyes widened. Her fingers scrabbled over the trunk, searching for the voices of the tree as she no longer heard it. Anna looked up at it, seeking deep for the rush she felt when connecting to the Moors. But it was not there. There was nothing there.

Anna scrabbled her hands to the ground, fingers clawing at the earth. It did not respond, silent and hollow as the tree, only leaving her with the empty echo. Her fists clenched and her eyes squeezed shut, managing a tiny flutter of gold from her fingers that petered swiftly away in the light breeze.

That was when Anna cried. Burying her face in the earth she wept. Her body wracked with pain, her soul silent and disconnected, her mind still lost in fog, she gave all the tears she had to the ground.

Her fists beat at the earth in time with her sobs. And, after a moment, she felt something. It was buried, almost too deep to notice, but Anna clawed toward it. The glimmer of something, the hope of something hidden there at the furthest recesses of her mind where she might not otherwise seek. With all her will power she yanked it forward and the foundations of the very earth shook.

Anna wobbled to stand, holding herself to a tree again. The power she sought still thumped quietly in the background now and she seized it. With a forceful tug it washed over her and Anna saw the world edged all in an emerald green before her vision settled.

This new power, not friendly and warm like the gold she basked in before, whispered to her and Anna took shelter in its offerings. She grasped a branch above her and tore it from the tree. In the distance she imagined she heard the cry of the tree but she ignored it, running her hands over the branch to blacken the wood, hardening it into a staff she then used to help her walk to the large stone mouths that gaped toward the world of men.

Anna glared at the distance and walked toward it. She continued through the fields, holding tightly to the staff for balance. The only indication of distance between her and the Moors was the light falling through the sky.

With dusk setting over the sky, Anna redirected herself toward a crumbling building and hid herself away in a corner. Laying the staff to the side, Anna rested herself against the stone wall and hugged her arms around her chest. Wind blew through the holes in the walls and whistled around the stones but Anna only redirected the wind to keep herself warm.

She closed her eyes for a moment and only opened them when she heard a flutter of wings. Anna glared in the half-light as a crow landed near her. With a wave of her hand she blew a waft of air toward the crow but it only jumped up and landed closer. Using a bit of the green-tinged magic from her fingers she sent a zap at the crow. It shrieked and flew off, leaving Anna alone.

With a final breath she closed her eyes and lay back against the pile of hay.

* * *

Anna opened her eyes, using her staff to pull herself to her feet. She took to the fields again to wend her way farther and farther away from the Moors. The calling of the distance kept her focused while she moved toward a small, dark shape on the horizon.

The sun had yet to rise high in the sky when a series of loud noises drew her attention. With a frown she turned toward the noise, hiding in the browning stalks of corn to see a farmer beating at a crow trapped under a net. A nearby dog barked, setting Anna's teeth on edge. She narrowed her eyes and sighed as she recognized the crow from the night before.

"I'll kill you for destroying my crops." The man raised his wooden club to beat the crow and for a moment Anna sucked the inside of her cheek before waving her hand at the crow.

"Become a man."

The crow squawked and changed before the farmer's eyes. The farmer shrieked, falling back on his ass before running away. With a whine the dog chased after its master, yipping and yelping as it faded into the distance.

Anna pushed her way out of the corn stalks as the newly formed man threw the net off, stumbling on his newly formed legs. He held up his hands, looking over them before stepping away from Anna. Tripping back he held out his hand toward her.

"Don't come any closer."

"I don't plan to." Anna looked him over, "You're not what I was expecting."

"What you expected?" He pointed to his body. "Have you seen what you did with my beautiful self?"

"Would you rather he beat you to death?"

"I don't know. I've faced worse."

"Stop moaning." Anna waved off his argument, "I saved your life. Can't you just be grateful and say 'thank you'?"

He bowed his head to her, "Thank you, kind sorceress, for saving my life."

"You're welcome." Anna sighed, "I do hope I never see you again."

"You sent me away last night."

Anna stopped, turning back to the crow-turned-man. "You remember that?"

"It was just last night."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I know power when I sense it." He tested a step toward her, shaking a bit on his unsteady feet. "I found you so I could serve you."

"Serve me?"

"I once served as a herald for the battle goddess Morrigan."

"Why did you stop?"

"She didn't save me what that farmer was about to beat me to death." He pointed at her, "You did."

"And you'd serve me?"

"You own my life." He went down on his knees before her, opening his hands, "I'm your servant, milady."

"Get up and don't call me that." Anna looked around, trying to find anything on which to focus her eyes but him. "Fine, you may serve me."

"What would you have me do for you?"

"First I need to get you clothes and then I need to give you wings." Anna waved a hand over him, fabric forming from the fibers of the surrounding corn to give him black clothing. "Will you serve me faithfully?"

He looked over his new wear, pulling at it before bowing. "I swear to you my life. Whatever you wish of me will be my honor to grant."

"What name do you have?"

"None."

"How did Morrigan call for you?"

He shook his head, "She summoned me and I couldn't refuse her."

"Then I'll give you a name since I don't intend to summon you like a tool." Anna scrunched her face until a thought came to her. "I'll call you John."

"John?"

"It's natural and normal." Anna tilted her head, "If I want you among people you need to sound like you belong with people."

"Will you send me among people?"

"I might but not for now."

"What first then?"

"Information." Anna risked a hand back to her missing wings, stopping just short of touching them and then folding her fingers toward her palm. "I need you to fly to the castle and find out what became of the man named Green. He is a soldier with the King's army and is garrisoned somewhere in the palace."

"You need me as your spy?"

"I need you as a great many things but we'll start with you as my spy." Anna pointed in the direction of the distant castle. "Go and return to that same barn where you found me last night. I'll wait for your return."

She waved her hand and he changed back to a crow. With a flap he took to the skies. Anna watched him depart before walking back toward the barn, still leaning heavily on her staff.

Night came and John had yet to return. Anna settled herself to sleep but quickly roused when the clacking of talons on stone. She stood quickly, pulling herself up with the staff and snapping her fingers to turn him back into a man.

"What is it?"

"The man named Green, he's not a soldier."

"What is he?"

"He's the new king."

"What?" Anna shook her head, "That's not possible."

John shrugged, "The words I heard said that he gained his crown for killing a fairy known to plague the king. They hung her large, white wings over the throne as he sat upon it."

Anna wrapped her hands tighter around her staff, flexing them in time with her deep breathing. "He stole my wings to be king?"

"Your wings?"

Anna ignored John's words, "He took from me to be king!"

She stabbed her staff to the ground and an explosion of green light came from the top of the staff. It exploded, sending John falling back while turning back into a crow. Anna shrieked as the rage poured from her and into the green magic.

After a moment it settled and she turned to John. "We're leaving now."

John took to the air and Anna followed, the ground rumbling under her as she walked. Any buildings nearby shook and the fields pulsed with the reverberations of her gift and fury. Even the menacing faces that guarded the Moors seemed to quake in fear when Anna passed.

She walked right through the trees, the shadows and creatures that lived there following behind her. Taking her steps carefully toward the center of the Moors she waved her hand to elevate a seat from the rock there. In the midst of the whispers and twitters of those around her Anna took her seat.

John landed beside her as two of the rock guardians took position on either side of her. They growled and all the creatures of the Moors fell to their knees in deference. With a deep breath she slammed her staff against the ground.

The shock wave rocked the Moors and sent tremors through the stones of the palace of men. In that moment Anna could see the fear in Green's eyes. For one moment she smiled.


	5. Gifts of the Moors

Anna took a deep breath, her toes just over the edge of the cliff. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply to better feel the rush around her, and shut out everything but the wind teasing over her skin. For a moment she considered dropping over the cliff like she used to until a voice disturbed her.

"Without wings it's a swift fall to a sure death."

She did not turn, barely moving her head in response to the male voice. "What if that's what I want?"

"Then by all means, fall. But," He joined her, taking position at her side, "It's a long way down and that's more than enough time to regret your decision."

"You're assuming I'd regret."

"We all regret something." He pointed below you, "You'd regret that because, at the last minute, you'd want to open wings that aren't there and fly but you couldn't and you'd die."

"Thank you for reminding me of what I don't have." Anna rounded on him, "I didn't give you lips so you could comment on my life."

"And I didn't ask to speak but it seems neither of us really have a choice now that the agency of another acted on us." He crossed his arms over his chest, "I've more news."

"I was so hoping you didn't come all the way back here just to comment on my decisions." Anna held her hands open to him, "What is it?"

"There's been a development in Queen Edna's pregnancy."

"Queen?"

"Her father, the King, died a few days ago."

"And you didn't fly back to tell me?" Anna shook her head, "You're not the spy I thought you were John."

"I would've come only bearing partial news since it means that your Green is now fully the king, not King-in-Waiting. And his wife was expected to give birth any day."

"How advantageous for Green that the timing worked out so perfectly." Anna started down the switchbacks that trailed the cliff. "I assume you're here because she delivered. "

"She did. It's a girl and there's expected to be a grand celebration."

Anna stopped, a smiling breaking out on her face. "A grand celebration? For a baby who can't even speak yet?"

"It's what folk like them do."

"What are the plans surrounding this child's festive engagement?"

"They're inviting all the distinguished people they can fit into their throne room to bear witness to the future Queen."

"How wonderful." Anna quickened her pace, "We should prepare to attend then John. We wouldn't want to disrespect the future Queen."

"We've not been invited."

"That's not a concern that need trouble you." She overlooked the Moors before continuing down the switchbacks. "I'm assuming you've also heard the whisperings among those of my own people?"

"They've not much to complain about since you've kept to your word and maintained a peace with the word of men but…" John massaged the back of his neck and almost ran into Anna as she stood, eyebrow raised, and waited for him to continue. "They're convinced that perhaps they should put their faith in the future Queen instead of you."

"Are they afraid of me?"

"You're still the most powerful fairy of them all and they're deferent to it."

"That's not what I asked." She stepped closer to him, "I asked if they're afraid of me."

"Who wouldn't be afraid of someone who stormed back into their homeland and sent a tremor through the earth after raising her throne from the rock?" John held her stare, "If you thought they'd bow and scrape to you out of respect with that kind of display then you don't understand people."

"The lack of my wings would support that assessment." Anna continued on the path but felt a hand fall on her shoulder. She turned toward it, following it up to John's face, "I'd take care where you lay your hand, John."

"I might too if I thought you'd do anything to me." He drew even with her, "But you need me and I know my value."

"I think you're forgetting that there are more crows in the sky than one can count and any one of them could serve me just as well."

"I don't think you believe that any more than I do." He folded his arms over his chest, "You rescued me when you were wounded and so was I. We share that bond and you'll not find another who'll know what you looked like when you were broken."

Anna clenched her jaw, "Then you're not afraid of me because you know I'm weak?"

"I never said weak."

"Broken is weak."

"Broken can be rebuilt." John shrugged, "I don't believe you're weak because you've been broken. I believe it made you stronger."

"Do you?"

John lowered his voice, "I know what was done to you."

Anna's eyes widened, "How'd you know?"

"The King tends to enjoy the vintages from the cellars and when he does he brags about how he earned the hand of the Queen." John shuffled in place, "He keeps your wings on display over the thrones."

"Does he now?" Anna stretched her hand and noticed how the tree next to her swelled under the influence of a green haze. She shook herself, leaving the tree to return to its normal shape. "And what exactly does he say when he brags about what he did to me?"

"He says he captured you, held you captive, and stole your wings from your corpse." John opened his mouth, shifting his jaw a moment before he continued, "Did he hold you captive?"

"No, he tricked me with our friendship and then drugged me." Anna pointed her open hand toward the air. "Do you think I would submit to just anyone when the safety of the Moors was at stake?"

"No."

Anna drew back a pace, "Whatever he tells them is a lie, meant to raise himself and destroy me."

"Why not tell those here the truth?" John waved a hand at the Moors below them. "Have them fight for you."

"Because I know the suffering it would bring them. And the suffering it would bring me to admit that the relationship I nurtured and developed led to my demise." Anna snorted, "They've already seen too many of my secrets come out into the open and I am found out. The shame of being a wing-less fairy follows me everywhere I go because it's got nowhere to hide."

"What's the shame here?"

"Excuse me?"

"I see no shame in this." He gestured to her. "You're standing tall, you're proud, and you're still powerful."

"But I'm spoiled, John." She sniffed, "And I'll never be whole again."

"You're not spoiled for anyone." John risked a hand forward, running it briefly over her cheek. "You're made holier and higher because of the suffering you've been put through. You emerged triumphant and bugger anyone who says differently."

"Truly?" Anna raised her hand but it was too slow to catch John's before his lowered.

He gave a swift nod, "Truly."

They faced one another for another moment before Anna rolled her shoulders back, "Then perhaps we should show the world of Men that strength."

"Perhaps we should." John gave a little smile, "I'm sure you could find an appropriate gift of the Moors to give the future Queen."

"I'm sure we'll find something suitable for her." Anna took to the path again. "Her and her father."

"What'd you have in mind?"

Anna let her lips curl back slightly with her smile, "Something befitting his Majesty."

* * *

She watched outside the gates, John perched in his crow form on her shoulder, as the caravans and entourages of the dignitaries and invitees filed into the castle. Horns and trumpets occasionally bellowed over the air to greet the oncoming hoard and inform the simple people below the plateau what occurred above them all. The simple people not welcome to such an event.

Just like herself.

From this vantage point Anna could appreciate the unconscious influence the castle had on the people. They lived in its imposing shadow, gave their lives to its continued life, and even slaved to lay the stones that wrapped it over the plateau. These simple people who would forever look up in wonder at something they could never understand simply because they could never truly see it.

Anna did.

Anna understood that every stone beneath was laid for the people who walked the halls in splendor and grandeur and not those who gaped at the opulence. She knew the train of visitors here, ostensibly to celebrate the Christening of the future Queen, was a display of power and prestige for the people. They were to fear and bow and scrape all the lower for what the King and his Queen could bring to bear when necessary.

She would enjoy crushing him in front of so many.

They waited for the end of the parade and Anna walked the stone path now littered with the detritus of all those who just entered. Her staff clacked on the stones and John's talons dug ever-so-slightly into her shoulder to hold himself steady on her shoulder with the cadence of her step. The black dress wrapping her almost like shadow trailed behind her, scattering the confetti and celebratory ribbon to the gutter.

When the guards attempted to stop her she flicked her wrist and sent them back. The doors opened enough to let her in, the creak of the hinges and the moan of the wood the only fanfare she needed, and closed with a resonating thunder. All in the halls stopped as she passed, whispers creating a tense song through the large halls and vaulted ceilings. A sound she hoped could chill Green's blood before she even reached the throne room.

Her shadow entered the room before she did. For a moment she wondered if any thought her a pretender with her diminutive size but when she noted the way the room silenced as she entered Anna no longer cared. Her steps rang in time with the beat of her staff on the stones and she stopped just before the thrones of the King and Queen before spreading her arms dramatically.

"Your Majesties." She sunk to the floor, her dress billowing out around her, "I'm here to offer my gifts to the Princess and future Queen."

"We need none of your gifts." Green's voice rang hollow and familiar in her ears. Anna stood, her eyebrow raising as she met his eyes, and kept her smile small at the tremble in his fingers. "You're not welcome here."

"That's a poor way to greet a guest, King Alexander." Anna spread her arms to the gathering, "You've gathered the royalty, the nobility, the gentry, and even allowed the rabble below to witness this show of strength. I'd say I'm the guest you need on such an occasion."

"And why would we need a crippled witch from the cesspool just beyond our borders?" He spit, rising from his seat to level a shaking finger at her, "You're nothing there and even less here."

"You didn't think so when you trembled in your seat." Anna paced the few steps to the side where the cradle held the child. She stopped, frowning at her, "And I'm sure it must be difficult to witness the Christening of the woman who'll one day unseat you from that hard-won throne."

Green swallowed and Anna covered her mouth in mock surprise, "Oh, was I not supposed to say how you earned it? How those are my wings, hanging over it?" She pointed and a bit of green flame leapt off her finger to frighten Green back into his seat. "Or how you told everyone you killed the Fairy from the Moors but really you tricked her, drugged her, and then left her to die after you cut off her wings?"

The room gasped and Anna opened her hands to them. "It's true."

"It's a lie." Green yelled, "Now get out before I have you removed."

"And who would remove me?" She snorted, gesturing to the three colorful fairies tittering to the side, "Them? Your guards? They're nothing compared to me and what I can do."

"Then leave us in peace." The Queen's voice finally broke over the room, "Leave us and go back to your Moors. We want no trouble or argument with you."

"Then perhaps your husband shouldn't have stolen what was most precious to me." Anna faced the cradle again, "And you should've invited me to this ceremony."

"But you said you were here to offer gifts." The Queen edged forward but one look from Anna had her back in her chair. "I thought you wanted to bless our daughter."

"Oh, I intend to give her a gift of my own." Anna drew a finger from the child's forehead to her chin. "She'll grow in grace, beauty, and intelligence, like my traitorous fairies have already said. I'll not disrupt such lovely magic."

"Then what'll you give her?"

Anna smiled at the Queen, "I'll give her a way out of the misery that is this life. When she reaches her sixteenth birthday she'll prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep like death… from which she'll never awaken."

"No!" The Queen almost fell from her seat and her ladies-in-waiting rushed to aid her. "Please, spare my child your anger."

"Then perhaps your husband should've spared me his greed." A sleek ring of a sword coming from a sheath gave Anna the moment she needed to dodge the lunge from Green before knocking the sword from his hands. Her hand wrapped over his throat and she bent over him as he struggled to free himself. "I want you to sleep every night for the net sixteen years knowing your daughter will die before your eyes because you wanted the seat behind you."

She threw him away from her, shooting a scowl toward the fairies. "I do hope you like the world of Men since the Moors are forever sealed to you. We don' hold with traitors who give their gifts to the ungrateful and undeserving."

Anna almost reached the doors when Green's voice echoed over the chamber, "Please, don't do this. I'll do anything."

"Anything?" Anna turned to him, walking back to stand before him and pointing over his head. "Give me back my wings."

"No," He shook his head, "Anything but that."

"Then we stand at an impasse." Anna looked to the Queen, noting the woman's sobs as she held her child close. Something tugged in her heart as John's talon bit into her shoulder. "Though I must admit, it brings back memories of you, offering me the world, as you once did."

"Please, Anna," He fell to his knees before her, "Don't do this to my child."

"I like this better," She used her finger to circle him in the air, "Begging for my help. Do it again."

"Please, don't doom my child to die."

"I guess, since she's an innocent," Anna snapped her fingers, "Your dear little princess won't die when she falls to the influence of the curse you brought upon her. She'll merely fall asleep until True Love's kiss can wake her."

Green paled and frantically shook his head, "No, no you can't do this."

"It's already done." Anna raised her arms, "This curse will last until the end of time and no power on earth can change it."

A tremor shook the room, bringing screams as bits of the ceiling and the walls unsettled and rumbled about them as if the whole of the plateau would split beneath them. Anna gathered her dress and spun on her heel to leave the room. As she did the eyes of the princess met hers and for a moment all of time stopped.

Those dark eyes pulled Anna forward, pleaded with her, but Anna pushed the feeling away. Her stride carried her toward the doors and they bounced off the walls in the forced she used to open them. The same force that erected the wall of impenetrable thorns to surround the Moors as she reentered her domain.

John flew from her shoulder and Anna waved her hand to let him drop to the ground on two feet. He gaped at her and she opened her arms. "What?"

"You just cursed a child."

"It would've been worse if I cursed the entire kingdom and, if you were paying attention, you'd notice I refrained."

"You'd doom an innocent girl to that fate because of what her father did to you?"

"There are many who suffer for the crimes of their parents." Anna shrugged, "The Princess will merely be one of them."

"She has a name."

"I don't care to know it."

"I know you don't but if you had to sleep every night knowing the name of the child you doomed to die then perhaps you'd rest a little less easy as well." John scoffed, "Perhaps I was wrong and you are weak."

"Excuse me?"

"You marched into that room and you tortured that woman. You cursed that baby. And you exiled your own people for doing exactly what you did." He shook his head, "You're not who I thought you were."

"This is who I am."

"No, this is who you let yourself be."

Anna scoffed at him, "You think you can lecture me when you stand on legs I purchased for you and speak with a mouth I bought you when I could've left you to die under the hand of that farmer?"

"I never asked for that."

"You promised me your life."

"But not my soul. Not to watch you revel in the misery you bring because you'd hate be alone in your own misery." John thumped both of his hands against his chest, "I'm nothing. I was nothing and I'll always be nothing. But you, you could've risen above and forgave but instead you sought revenge."

"Forgive him? For what he did to me?" Anna tried to stop herself screeching, "How could I ever forgive him?"

"It's possible."

"No, it's not, and because you've never experienced it you'll never understand the desire to plunge the knife so deep into someone's chest you can feel it pulse under your hands."

"You twisted the knife in yourself, not in him." John pointed back toward the castle. "They'll suffer, make no mistake, but not as much as you."

"I won't begrudge a moment of it."

"Yes you will because despite what you believe about the emptiness of the cavern where you're heart's supposed to be, it's still there. It may not beat as strongly and perhaps it doesn't beat as it did but it's there." John stepped closer, "And you'll feel it thud against your chest every minute of every day until you reverse what you've done."

"Never."

"Then sleep as well as you can in the knowledge that Princess Mary will die because of you." His eyes were hard, "Because of the gift you wanted so desperately to give her.


	6. Regret in the Moors

Anna sat up, glaring at the crook in the tree where she curled herself, and dropped to the ground. Darkness surrounded her and she noted the quiet of the water below her as well as the world around her. The quiet that mocked the raging turmoil in her soul and refused to allow her rest.

She walked down the side of the cliff, her focus entirely on the confusion of her mind, and continued until she ran into something. Green light flew to her hands as the simmering rage born of inexpressible frustration came to bear. It dissipated almost instantly when she saw John there.

Crossing her arms over her chest she raised an eyebrow. "I thought I left you as a crow."

"You did but I'm not so useless that I can't shift myself between the two forms if I try." He shrugged up a shoulder, "It's difficult and doesn't always work but I believe motivation to be-"

"I don't need the details for how you did it. What I want to know is why you did it." Anna took a breath, "Are you having trouble sleeping? I can't bear to deal with it if you're not at your best when I need you."

"Do we have more princesses we need to curse?"

Anna clenched her jaw, "I'm not having this conversation with you again."

"Why not? Are you worried that you might prove yourself wrong if your conscience is allowed to speak above your pride and your revenge."

"You don't understand that this is." Anna tried to push past him but John's voice came back to her.

"Don't I?" She turned, frowning as John spread his hands. "Haven't I people on whom I should take my revenge?"

"What revenge could a bird want?"

"You found me in a net." John walked toward her. "You found me about to be beaten to death or ripped apart in the jaws of a dog. Don't you believe there's something to be revenged there?"

"It's survival." Anna shook her head, as if to dispel the question there. "I'm sure if I asked that farmer he would say you tried to steal his grain or-"

"Sought to survive?" John managed a smile but Anna noted there was no joy there. It was the smile of someone trying to explain a simple concept a closed mind would not accept. "I was about to die because I wanted to live."

Anna did not speak immediately, chewing the inside of her cheek. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to think beyond yourself, beyond your pain. It's not easy and there's much about it that's not fair but you've shut yourself off to the chance to feel again because it's so painful."

"You couldn't possibly understand." Anna waved a hand into the air. "Your fight with that farmer is one where you're both trying to survive in a harsh and unforgiving world. What was taken from me wasn't to feed children to prevent personal starvation. I was…"

Anna closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I was stripped of what mattered to me. I was raped because someone wanted to benefit by my demise."

"I'm not saying what he did was right but what makes you different than him is that you're fighting for something greater than he is." It was as if all the air left John. "You've got a chance to change yourself and the world around you by taking that pain and forging yourself into something new. Something stronger."

"Like what?"

"Come with me and I'll show you." John extended a hand to Anna, "Change yourself into something that can fly and you'll see what I mean. You'll see what you can become."

Anna narrowed her eyes at his hand and then put her hand in his. "I'll humor you this once. Don't believe this'll happen again."

"I won't put myself to the trouble of assuming anything." He waited and Anna snapped her fingers.

Both of them morphed into birds. John returned to his black, crow self as Anna took the shape of a dove. She beat her wings, losing herself a moment in the feeling of flying again, and followed John as they flew. The rush of the wind through her wings was not like before.

Before it had ruffled her hair, moved over her skin, and filled her with joy. Now it buffeted her, threatened her tiny body with eddies and waves that would overpower her if she was not careful, and took all of her strength. Where once the wind was her friend it now fought her.

The difference in the body she occupied and what she now tried to do drove a dagger through her heart. It destroyed her inside to realize she could only ever fly as a small and miserable victim of the world about her. She ruled the skies no longer and her only hold on the world she once enjoyed above the clouds was this tiny piece of it that she practically gripped with her teeth to hold.

John's smooth flight before her rankled and it took every bit of self-control she had not to knock him out of the sky for the way he soared. But the flight ended sooner than she thought and they landed in the forest, close to the Moors on the human side. Perched there, on a branch, John twitched his beaked head forward.

Anna glided to the ground and blinked once to leave her body as before. Her staff appeared in her hand in an instant and she still leaned on it slightly for balance. John landed on her shoulder but Anna brushed him off while flicking her fingers in his direction to leave him standing before her as a man.

"What is it that you wanted me to see?" Anna opened her arms to the forest around her, pivoting to turn a small circle. "If it's the trees then I know what they look like and I hear their voices. If it's the ground then there's nothing different in this soil than the soil of the Moors. If it's anything else then I'm not interested."

Anna flicked her head to one side and noticed a large gash in one tree. She walked toward it, covering the gash with her hand and closing her eyes. The voices of the tree, at first startled with fear and surprise, hummed a moment later as she sought to heal the tear in the bark. As Anna opened her eyes she covered her mouth with her hand and noted the golden hue of the magic healing the tree's scars.

Stepping back quickly she bumped into John. Anna cleared her throat, brushing at her black clothing in an attempt to compose herself and gripped her staff tighter. "What is it you wanted me to see?"

"This way."

John led them through the underbrush, Anna trying to shut out the sounds of the forest that stuttered with awe at her presence and then tittered with the load of information to digest at the rumors passed there that stood in stark contrast to the actions they just witnessed. She blinked, closing her mind to them, and kept pace just behind John.

He stopped at a small rise and pointed forward. "That."

Anna frowned, "It's a house. What of it?"

"It's what's inside the house." They wended their way carefully in the dark to the edges of the house.

An incessant wailing echoed from the interior and Anna recognized the cries of a child. It stuck deep in her soul as a long buried memory of similar cries returned to her. Her cries when her parents perished and she was left alone. The cries of the forgotten and abandoned that had been her song for so long.

Anna blinked when John's hand brushed her shoulder. She turned to him and gave an exasperated sigh when he tapped his chest. With a flail of her fingers he morphed back to his crow self, perching just on the window to caw softly. Anna stepped forward and saw a baby perched just inside the window.

It still cried, softer now that John stood by with his melodious caws echoing like a kind of song. The baby whimpered and took in the sight of Anna as she approached. Sniffles sounded in Anna's ears and she flinched back when the baby reached an arm toward her.

She tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest as she looked on the child but the harsh chirp from John, still in his crow form, brought her back to the present. Anna glared at him, hissing in an attempt to speak without being overheard. "What do you mean by this?"

John hopped closer to the child, twitching his head in her direction and Anna shook hers in response. "No. I owe her nothing. No time, no attention, no care. She's in the…" Anna waved her arm at the house. "She belongs to these people."

The hopping of John matched the flap of his wings and Anna leaned forward to peer inside the window. The interior of the house was dark so she brought up her hand, ignoring the cooing of the baby still reaching for her, and blew across her open palm. Tiny pinpricks of light sailed away and blinked over the room with no more signal to the possible occupants than a released jar of fireflies.

That was when Anna's jaw tightened and the muscle in her jaw twitched. There, laying three across in a large bed, were the bright fairies from the Christening. Ears stuffed with cotton to drown out the sounds of the baby they left practically abandoned on the sill of the window, they slept soundly with occasional snores jostling them.

Anna rankled, green light growing around the end of her staff and the hand that held it. But a sharp pain across her hand distracted her and Anna turned to see John, talon extended, hopping away from her. She backhanded the crow, turning him to a man in his tumble through the air to land solidly in a roll on the hard earth

"You dare touch me in such a fashion?"

"I stopped you killing those women." John picked himself up, dusting at the clothing he wore like an uncomfortable second skin. "They're not deserving of your ire."

"In case you failed to recognize them, which would not surprise me given your failure in recognizing anything from that event but my actions, they're the fairies who sought to betray me to the King."

"They were there to seek peace between the Moors and the humans."

"It wasn't their right."

"They speak for themselves as you're not their Queen." John hissed back and Anna's jaw dropped.

"I beg your pardon."

"You're not the Queen of the Moors. You're not their ruler or their commander. You're nothing but a hurt and pained woman taking your revenge out on innocent children."

Anna stopped, pointing back to the child who started wailing again. "I do hope you're not about to tell me that child is the Princess."

"She is and they brought her here to keep her safe from your curse."

"That's the thing about curses." Anna sneered at him, "They're not bound by location. They're bound to the receiver and there's no escaping that."

"She's here to make sure you can't harm her further." John sighed, "They took her in, at the request of the King, to keep her safe until such time as a solution is found to what you did to her."

"You think it's that simple. That a solution'll just make itself known to them?" Anna laughed, "The fairies in there aren't qualified to care for a child and there's no book in any library of Man that could tell them what they need to know."

"You seem very sure."

"The Moors and Man are enemies, John. They have been for centuries and in that time the only interest a Man ever showed toward the Moors was what he could steal from it, not what he could learn from it."

"The King wanted to learn."

Anna flinched back as if John stung her. "Don't talk to me about that as if you've any idea what happened."

"He was once as innocent as that child there and you took pity on him."

"My mistake, it would seem."

"No, not a mistake." John stepped forward but Anna shied away from him. "We're not perfect beings and we've made mistakes. His mistake was turning to greed and cruelty and envy. Your mistake is your rage and your hatred and your revenge."

"Are they not earned?" Anna thrust a finger toward her empty back. "Do I not deserve what I carry in place of what was stolen from me?"

"Then why not take all your power and steal them back? Abandon this ridiculous crusade to inflict pain on someone who won't feel guilty for what he's done." This time, when John stepped closer, Anna did not back away. "Why not take back your wings and return in peace to the Moors?"

Anna hung her head, refusing to meet his eyes in the moonlight. "It's an old magic. They must be returned by the blood of those who took them from me. As they were stolen they must be returned to complete the circle. I cannot take them back for myself."

"Then let her complete the circle." John urged.

Anna frowned, "What?"

"That child could be taught differently than her father. She's not doomed to his experiences or his decisions. She could be the necessary link to begin a new age for her people if you'd give her the chance." Anna turned back to the window, finally letting the desperate cries of the Princess reach her ears again. John came to her shoulder, whispering to her from behind. "Let her help you."

A minute passed but it felt an eternity before Anna shook herself. "She'll starve to death if those three are entrusted to look after her on their own. My curse has no effect if she perishes before it can take effect."

Anna made her way back to the window and positioned her hand over the Princess. The basket holding her floated in the air and moved to the middle of the room where golden light formed a wicker cradle. It rocked back and forth and the baby cooed now with the gentle swaying motions easing her toward sleep. Anna snapped her fingers and the linens around the baby changed, the blankets softened, and a bottle sat on the sill.

Turning to John she smiled but his face wrinkled in confusion. "What?"

"Do you know how to feed a baby?"

"Not a human one."

Anna pointed to the bottle. "Hold this in one claw and use your other for balance as you carefully position it in her mouth. Gently as you can."

"What?" Before John could say anything else Anna snapped her fingers and John reverted to his crow form.

Even with a beak Anna could almost make out the glare in his eyes as he took the bottle and managed a slightly tilted flight to the Princess's side. He took position and Anna watched as he fed the small child. A few minutes later and the Princess was fast asleep in her cradle, rocked by an unseen hand.

Anna turned from the window, wending her way over the ground as John flew back to her shoulder. She did not change his form again, choosing instead to bask in the silence around them. The silence that persisted until her feet carried her to the thorny barrier that protected the Moors from outside invasion.

There Anna waved her hand, about to turn John back to his human form, when she stopped. In the distance a light glowed from the tree line and klaxon sounds drew her brow to furrow. She dropped her hand and tightened her grip on her staff as she turned her hand on the wood.

A dark cut in the air before her beckoned and Anna stepped through it. A moment later she emerged from a similar slice right before a burning second of the thorny wall. Her hand raised, touching the large, sinuous vines, and she emitted a green-gold glow around them. They tightened and groaned, tendrils raising themselves high into the air.

When she looked through the interlocking vines Anna saw soldiers on the other side, manning their war machines filled with pitch and fire. A burst of green light emanated from her hand and the raised tendrils crashed down. The trebuchets and the catapults cracked and shattered, sending debris and shards flying everywhere. Screams of pain and fear echoed from the zone but Anna just redirected the defenses of the thorns.

They grew and expanded, the burnt sections breaking off in their attack to fall on the soldiers to crush them or burn them alive. Those who could do so ran for it, others attempted to hack at the attacking thorns but were skewered or macerated under their weight, and others abandoned their brothers to make a defiant charge. These only met the shooting vines from the thorn wall that wrapped over them, impaled them, or threw them back beyond the line of stone golems with their snarling faces.

Soon the forest was quiet again and Anna parted the wall of thorns to survey the damage. The fires burnt to smoldering heaps she eased to nothing with an outstretched hand. Golden sparks streamed about to repair the cut and mangled trees about her.

As she turned to leave something grabbed her ankle and Anna raised her staff to defend herself when she noticed a wounded soldier lying on the ground. She inhaled sharply, staff still raised, and watched the blonde boy cower back in fear. The dig of talons in her shoulder had Anna hissing a step back to unseat John from his perch.

"What?" John cawed toward the boy and Anna noted he fainted. "Let his people save him."

With what must have been a Herculean effort, John transformed himself to land on his hands and knees before her. He gulped air for a moment and stood on shaky legs but he faced her. "Help him."

"I did my good deed for the day when I helped your Princess."

"She's not my Princess and her name is Mary." John stepped in front of Anna when she turned to leave. "They're victims, just like you."

"They made their choice when they chose the uniforms they wear."

"Out of desperation? Because they were starving? Because they've someone to feed at home?" John pressed and Anna could not respond to him. "Help him. Help any of those who are injured here."

"You weren't so insistent when I set the wall to defend itself."

"Defense is not the same as abandonment." John pointed to the blonde boy. "Help him. Save him and he can return home."

"To come again another day?"

"With doubts in his heart." John waved his arms between the Moors and the human world. "The confusion of these people is born of fear and lies. They believe what they've been told because they've no proof to the contrary. Let your actions prove whatever propaganda they've been fed wrong. Let him start telling others a new story and you'll find yourself plagued not by hoards but by the few. He'll lose his war if you fight him with truth."

Anna stared at John, risking a glance toward the boy, and then shook her head. "I made a mistake when I gave you a mouth."

"Or you made the best decision you could."

Anna ignored him, walking toward the boy, and bent next to his body. Her left hand stretched over him, twitching away a moment but finally spreading fully, and she closed her eyes. With her right hand tightening on her staff, a steady glow of gold seeped from her ends of her fingers and worked into the boy's body. Within a moment his eyes flew open and he started.

He shrank back from Anna and she stepped back as well, holding her staff protectively before her. The boy took a few deep breaths, hands working over himself as he struggled to stand on shaking legs. His hand trembled and the finger he pointed at her shook. "What did you do to me witch?"

"I healed you." Anna lowered her staff, turning away from him. "You're welcome."

"You've poisoned me." He accused and Anna faced him again.

"If I wanted you dead I would've just left you here to die but I didn't." She waved her hand at the others around them. "If there are any others here that need assistance I suggest you see to them and leave. You're not welcome here."

"We're here to kill the witch."

Anna raised an eyebrow, "And how successful were you?"

He lowered his head, "Not very."

"Then perhaps you should think twice about attacking me again." Anna shooed him away. "Take whomever is still alive and leave. I want none of your kind here."

As she turned back to John, scowling at him, the boy called back to her. "Thank you, then… for saving my life."

Anna noted John's nod and almost groaned aloud. Without turning around she called back to him. "What is your name?"

"William."

"Then William, in return for your life I ask only that you never come back here. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And leave as quickly as you can. The wall won't be so lenient to you as I have been." Anna pressed her hand to the vines and they slithered back enough to allow she and John through. When she reached the other side she noted William, mouth gaping, staring at her. With a nod of her head, Anna closed the wall again.

"You've got a heart after all." John grinned to the side but Anna ignored him, pressing into the forest to reach the center of the Moors. "It's hard to find but it's there."

"I do wish you'd find a way to stop talking."

"I'm the only one who talks to you." John kept pace with her, winding through the trees. "You'd be lonely without me."

"I don't think I would. I survived before you and I'll survive after you."

"What about Princess Mary? Do you think she'll survive without you?"

Anna stopped, letting her head fall back with the exhausted surrender of one pushed to their very limit. "What is it that you want from me? What confession do you seek?"

"That you're not what you think you are."

"I'm everything I think I am." Anna rounded on him, "I cursed that child to hurt her father as he hurt me. I healed that boy because you asked it of me, not because I felt any compunction to be better or to forgive him. I feel nothing because there's nothing for me to feel."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." Anna paused, "Nothing but revenge and regret."

"I think you could feel something quite different." John reached for her free hand and Anna allowed him to hold it. "You could feel love for that girl. You could feel compassion for that boy. And you could feel forgiveness for yourself."

"I don't deserve that." Anna whispered, wishing she could take the words back.

But John's other hand on her face, holding her gaze to his, stopped her retracting the phrase. "You do deserve that."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because I think you're more than you believe."

"Do you?"

"You see a husk of your former self. A shriveled, abandoned, crone doomed to lean on that staff for the remainder of your wingless days."

"And what do you see?" Anna's voice had almost failed her, the tension rising in her body to match the stillness of the air about them.

"I see someone who's been hurt, who still hurts, but seeks desperately to be whole." His other hand abandoned its hold on hers to cup her face so gently it felt almost like the soft caress of the wind she missed so much. "I see someone for whom I care deeply and someone I want to love."

"You want to love me?"

"I do." He did not flinch from her gaze. "I want nothing more than to show you the person I see."

"Why?"

"Because I already love you." He bent his head to just graced her lips with a soft kiss.

Anna froze and John pulled back almost instantly. They stared at one another until Anna dropped her staff to use both hands to pull his mouth to hers. She lost herself in the feel of him, relishing the tightening of his hands on her to keep them steady, and did not let go until the necessity for air overwhelmed her.

They broke apart, both breathing heavily, and Anna went to pick up her staff. John bent, grabbing it for her, and replace it in her grip. His fingers over her skin sent a rushing tingle up her arm and she smiled.

"Perhaps you've made a mistake in your decision, John."

"Never." He shook his head. "From the moment you rescued me from the net I knew I was right about you."

"Right about me?"

John ducked his head, "I came here, from the service of Morrigan, to serve you after I watched you defeat the last King on that field."

Anna narrowed her eyes, "You were there?"

"I was one of the circling crows. Morrigan sent us to see why there was death near the Moors and when I watched you fight to protect your people without seeking vengeance or wrecking havoc on those running away I knew you were different."

"Not so very different."

"Very different." John insisted, taking her free hand again. "What you feel, the turmoil in your soul, that is not what a heartless person feels."

"No?"

"No. It is what one devoid of feeling and abandoned by emotion feels." John brought his other hand to cover hers. "You're not what you appear to be and not what you think you are."

"And you'll endeavor to help me know differently?"

"It'd be my greatest honor." John smiled at her. "If you'll let me."

"I think…" Anna took a deep breath, "I think I'd like that very much."


	7. Laughter of Man

Anna tapped her fingers against her knee, her other hand supporting her chin as she watched the three fairies ignoring their charge. John perched on the root by her side and Anna flicked her fingers at him to turn him into a man. He repositioned himself, conscious of the significant drop where they sat, and turned to her as Anna pointed across the chasm toward the picnicking fairies and the girl chasing after a butterfly.

"Why don't they take better care of her? She could wander off the edge of the cliff? They could lose her in a second because they don't care about her."

"Perhaps they think they're work thus far has been sufficient."

"They've not done anything. It's been all us for the last four years."

"But they don't know that." John risked moving closer to her as Anna continued to scowl at the scene. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you care about the little thing."

"It'd be a poor repayment on my investment if she tumbles over the cliff the same as it was if she happened to die of starvation." Anna's head lifted, watching Mary play closer and closer to the edge. "Why don't they do something?"

"You could do something." He prompted and then made a point of not meeting her eyes when she glowered at him.

"Any more advice on how to be a good person from you and I'll turn you into a worm." Anna flicked a finger and one of the fairies tumbled over.

Instead of taking stock of her surroundings when she righted herself, she immediately shot her own dart of colored magic at the fairy next to her. Within moments they were all firing at one another and crying out their anger before sending another blast of light. All the while, Mary wandered closer and closer to the edge.

"Sod it." Anna snapped her fingers and as the little girl slipped on the edge, a large root rose up and lifted her back into the meadow. The little girl only giggled and continued chasing the butterfly. Anna groaned and let her head hang back on her neck. 'Why are children so frustrating?"

"Weren't you frustrating to your parents?"

"I don't know." Anna quieted, not meeting John's eyes as she stood up, walking along the edge to follow Mary's progress. "I never really knew them."

"Never?" John stumbled to his feet, keeping farther back from the edge than Anna, who walked the line as though it was the most solid ground. "I thought fairies were raised like a flock."

"Depends on the breed of fairy." Anna stepped over a root, twiddling her fingers again to keep Mary from the edge with another large root. "The ones over there raise all their young as one. There are parents but you're more children of the hoard than you are the child of a parent."

"They call them hoards?"

"What do I care what they call them?" Anna huffed and then stopped, closing her eyes. "They're called flocks and there's a great deal of camaraderie there."

"You don't sound overly thrilled by that."

"My breed of fairy kind is different." Anna faced the other side of the chasm.

"Because you're bigger?"

"Because we've more in common with humans." Anna shrugged, "It's why my wings must be returned by those who stole them."

"I don't see the connection."

"A long time ago, when Man and Fairy were young, they met in peace and harmony." Anna pointed toward the Moors. "Those were open to Man like his world was to us. We lived together until a few men were jealous of the powers fairies had. They wanted their magic, their long life, and their longevity. They wanted to be what we are because they weren't happy as they were."

"It's the common condition."

"Not for fairy kind. We don't…" Anna stopped herself, "Before me, we never felt that way."

"What way?"

"Vengeful, spiteful, and vindictive." Anna snorted, "We were happy in the simplicity of the lives we had."

"But?"

"But Man attacked to steal from us, as they have sought to do ever since, and fairies withdrew into the Moors and closed them to Man."

John gasped and Anna turned to see Mary dancing too close to the edge again. She sighed, fiddling with her fingers to bring the roots over the edge, forming a barrier to the chasm. When she turned to see John's face, Anna raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said, I'd hate to see my revenge thwarted by those three idiots caring for her."

She picked up the edges of her dress and worked back into the forest, away from the chasm. John followed close behind her, not as graceful in his form as a man, and spoke up. "What happened then?"

"What?"

"Between Man and Fairy? After the Moors were taken from Man."

"They were never…" Anna stopped herself, waiting for John to join her. "They were never for Man. They simply lost the privilege of traveling freely in our domain."

"You can't be old enough to know that."

"It's common knowledge among fairy kind." Anna turned to the trees, squinting there. "But sometimes Man would seek peace. Sometimes Fairy would and when that happened… there were unions between the two."

"And that's what makes you different." John pointed at her but Anna ignored him, pushing further into the trees as he crashed behind her to catch up. "You're the product of a Fairy and Man union."

"A long time ago. Before the parents of my parents of my parents of my parents for generations past."

"But still," John's hand caught her arm, pulling Anna to a stop. "You've got a connection to that world. You're supposed to bridge the gap between them."

"And what gap, oh wise one, would you have me bridge?"

"That girl'll be princess one day, if you let her be, and you might find you share more in common than you'd like to admit."

"How's that?" Anna folded her arms over her chest.

"Your ancestors could've been her ancestors."

"Because my ancestors could be…" Anna laughed. "I'm a Fairy, John. I'm not Man and even if there's a drop or two in my veins, I'm a Fairy and always will be."

"If you'd had a child with him… would it've been a Fairy?"

Anna stopped, her eyes directed ahead of her but the focus lost. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. Her fingers tightened around her staff and a green glow emanated from the top. "What did you say?"

"If that was your daughter down there, instead of the Princess, would she be Fairy or Man?"

Anna turned faster than John could react and suddenly he hit a tree hard enough to knock the wind from him. Her staff was under his chin, pressing on his throat, and Anna positively vibrated with the energy she kept back from trying to blast him apart. "NEVER speak to me about that again."

John nodded and she waited a moment before releasing him. He hit the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees, and rubbed at his throat. Anna stepped back, looking over him, and then turned back to the path.

"Why not?" Anna looked over her shoulder at him as John spread his arms wide. "Why would you care if you hate him?"

"Because he stole that from me. He stole…" Anna bit down on her words. "He took everything from me. He took what I am and then had the gall to gloat about it. He's like all the rest of them."

"Rest of whom?"

"The others who laughed at my loneliness. Who refused to allow me near them or to play with them or even to be loved like them." Anna used her staff to thrust toward the other side of the barely visible chasm. "They shut me out when I needed someone most. When I lost my parents to Man, seeking to steal their power or their magic or what have you and took their lives instead, they refused me. They shut their doors in my face and I was left alone. Alone to die if that was my fate."

"But you didn't die."

"No, I didn't." Anna held herself higher, "I survived and they hated me for it. They hate that I represent the power of the unions between Man and Fairy. And they resent that I'm more powerful than they are because of it."

"And that's why you'll not think about the power a child of yours would have."

"There will be no children for me, John." Anna left him, walking the path alone. "There can be no children when you're the last of your kind."

* * *

Anna walked the edge of the woods around the cottage. Mary sat at the table outside while flashes of light glowed inside. She hummed to herself, kicking her legs back and forth as she wrote something out on a sheet of paper. Anna frowned at it, watching Mary as she finished with a flourish and then worked herself off the bench and toward the woods.

Drawing back into the woods, Anna sought safety in the shadows but Mary took no notice of her. She skipped up the path, still humming to herself as she trailed the paper behind her, and followed its turn toward a tree. Anna trailed her, keeping to the shadows and staying silent as she walked. If Mary noticed her presence she paid her no mind and rolled up the paper in her hands before stuffing it into the crook between two branches.

John, flying as a crow, flew down past Mary and landed on a tree near Anna. Mary turned with his motion, laughing to herself and waving at him until her eyes met Anna's. They both froze and Anna swallowed, trying to step back into the trees, but Mary darted closer in a moment.

"Hello." Mary managed, crawling over a root to hug Anna's legs. Anna almost stumbled, catching herself with a hand on the girl's back. It only took a moment for Mary to let go and then smile broadly. "Goodbye."

She skipped away, turning over her shoulder to call back. "Goodbye pretty bird!"

Anna shot a look at John, her brow furrowed in confusion, and then waited until Mary was back in her clearing before going to the tree and pulling the paper loose. It unrolled and she saw a child's drawing of a bird flying over a woman walking along the edge of a cliff. At the bottom, scrawled in the best handwriting a child could muster, were the words.

"Thank you for the fun."

John's caw in Anna's ear had her snapping her fingers to bring him to human form. He tapped the paper and Anna pulled it from his grip, rolling it back up. "That's progress."

"She thought playing with death was fun."

"She knew you were there and she thanked you." John tried to touch the paper again but Anna kept it from his reach. "Fine, be that way, but I think you're starting to like her."

"Am I?" Anna tucked the paper away, narrowing her eyes to stare through the trees at where Mary now drew on another paper. "Because I didn't burn this on sight?"

"Because you're not made of metal." John settled back on a root. "I've news from the castle."

"Thank you for finally saying something useful." Anna faced him, taking a seat of her own and resting her staff to the side. "What's the news?"

"The king's commissioned all the metallurgists in the kingdom to come to him." John shrugged, "Do you know why?"

"There's a rumor in some of the older folklore the people tell about Fairies that we're susceptible to the metals of the earth."

"Are you?"

"We're of the earth too and it hurts us no more of less than anything else. Unless…" Anna bit at her cheek. "Is he consulting his gardeners?"

"Not that I heard, why?'

"There's a plant, almost a weed, that hangs from the bows of trees that came poison us. Weaken our magical abilities." Anna thought a moment, "If mixed in wine it makes us tired and prone to lethargy."

"What if used in the water they have to use to cool the metal?"

"It could imbue the weapons with more power. A strike would weaken us, perhaps be even fatal." Anna sighed, "I only hope he's not intelligent enough to remember the wine he gave me when he took my wings. If he does then he'll know how to weaken my kind."

"Thus far that is all I heard." John paused, "And… the Queen is dying."

"She's dying?"

John nodded, "Says she took ill a short time ago and wants to see her daughter before she dies. The king has refused so far but I think he might find it in himself to allow her to visit her daughter in her final days."

"Then we should take the opportunity to see for ourselves." Anna waved at John and he reverted to his crow form. He squawked but Anna ignored it. "Go and only come back if she's allowed to see her daughter. I want to know."

John flew off and Anna waited, watching the clearing.

* * *

Her ears perked up at the sounds of a carriage trundling along and Anna shrank into the shadows. The trees covered her and John stood silently on her shoulder. They watched the carriage pass, following it as it trundled down the short lane to stop outside the cottage. Two soldiers, dressed to appear like farmers but their bearing betraying the militaristic nature of their charge.

Anna came to the edge, whispering something as she stepped from between the trees. One of the soldiers looked in her direction but turned immediately back to his work of lowering the steps and then extending a hand. The Queen, dressed in what she and her maids must have thought was a simple set, descended. A handkerchief came up to her mouth as she coughed and Anna caught the sight of blood and bile there.

"Your Maj-" The Queen silenced the man with a hand and he shrank back next to his fellow as the three faires almost tripped over themselves to bow and scrape before the Queen.

"We're honored to have you here."

"Where is she?" The Queen's voice graveled and grated a bit before she let out another racking cough.

The fairies turned quickly, bidding the dark-haired girl come out. "Here she is. Come now, don't be shy."

Mary clutched her hands behind her back as the Queen bent before her. She reached out a hand, stroking over her hair for a moment, smiling at her. "Hello."

"Hello." Mary attempted a curtsey and the Queen smiled at her.

"Have you practiced that?"

"Yes." Mary bobbed her head once, grinning to herself. "I practiced hard."

"I can tell." The Queen coughed into her handkerchief again before standing. "I'd like a moment alone, if I may."

"Of course." The fairies fell back, joining the soldiers as the Queen snapped at one of them.

He hurried over, carrying a package, and left it in the Queen's hands before he returned to his former position. The Queen pointed to the table and Anna skirted the group to circle to the other side of the table. She waved a hand in a circle in the air and then snapped her fingers to bring John to his human form. He landed beside her, brushing at himself and nodding at the Queen.

"What's killing her?"

"A combination of diseases." Anna sighed, "One I believe the King procured from another woman and one that haunts this region. We can only hope she dies of the second before the first can drive her mad."

"Can't you heal her?"

Anna shook her head, "My magic doesn't work like that. Healing her would be contrary to the desires of nature."

"Nature desires that girl lose her mother when she's four years old?"

"Nature deprived me of mine when I five." Anna shrugged, "It's the way of the world. Death is a natural part of life. Her death, though tragic, is no more of less than we can all expect for ourselves."

"To one day lie in the cold, unforgiving earth?" John scoffed and Anna turned to him.

"No one cheats death."

"You could help her if you wanted." John hissed, "Don't think I haven't noticed the difference in your power."

"What difference?"

"When you're working with nature you glow golden. When you work your own ends it's green."

Anna sighed, "If I worked my own ends on her, even to heal her, it would take something from her as it does me."

John blinked, "What?"

"Using magic contrary to nature steals something from you. It's not always evident but with one such as she is, with no magic of her own to sacrifice, it would make her a monster." Anna shook her head, "I've no argument against the Queen and I wish I could allow her to live longer so she might see her daughter grow but I can't violate nature and risk what she would become if I did."

"Would you say the same if it were anyone else?"

"Do you really think me so petty as to take joy in the pain her body gives her?"

"You took her daughter from her."

"I'm done arguing that with you again." Anna faced the Queen and Mary. "I don't have to explain what I did to you when you were there and you know. I've told you before."

"Then save her."

"I can't!" Anna walked into the woods, leaving John to follow her. "I can't save her because the act would kill her."

"She's already dying."

"I won't kill her faster." Anna took a breath, "What I may've done to her, when I cursed her daughter, wasn't my intention."

"You intended to hurt the King."

"And I made a mistake." Anna closed her eyes, put her fingers to the bridge of her nose to pinch there. "I should've taken something else from him. Something that wouldn't injure the innocent."

Anna noticed how he looked at her, "Why are you so surprised?"

John took a step back. "You'd do it differently?"

"Of course I would." Anna pointed back toward the coughing woman and the worried girl. "Do you think I wanted that? To deprive a mother of her child when I lost my own mother so young?"

"I just thought…" John shook his head, "I thought you wanted revenge on her for having what you wanted."

Anna rolled her shoulders back, "Please have the decency to believe I'm a slightly more mature person than that. I don't lightly seek the pain of another."

"I-"

Both turned as they heard a yell. Anna leaned toward the scene and watched Mary bending over the collapsed Queen. The package the Queen held lay unwrapped on the table, a doll that looked remarkably like Mary sat there, but Mary ignored it as she tried to revive the Queen. The soldiers and fairies rushed over, each trying their best to help the woman.

Anna held her breath, a hand going to her chest as the taut pull of the life around her seemed to slacken around the woman. John hissed near her ear and Anna jumped. "Help her."

Putting a finger forward, Anna whistled out a single note and the Queen's eyes relaxed. Her whole body eased and she breathed her last. John turned to Anna but she held up a hand to stop his argument.

"I obeyed nature and she's at peace. It's better this way."

They back into the forest, John turning into a crow on his own and flying away. Anna let him go, consumed as she was in her own thoughts, and found herself wandering back to the cottage by dusk. Mary sat at the table, her feet clicking together and the doll in her arms as she clutched it close to her body.

Anna surveyed the area and then stepped from the trees. Mary turned to her, sniffing a bit and in the dusky low light Anna could see tear tracks going over the girl's cheeks. She reached out a hand and grabbed Anna's skirt, tugging her closer.

"Please?" Without a word, Anna sat next to the girl. Mary showed her the doll, "My mother gave this to me. She told me who she was before she went to sleep."

"Oh." Anna nodded, gesturing toward the doll. "She's lovely."

"I named her Edna, after my mother." Mary took the doll back, hugging it tightly to her again. "I didn't know her long at all."

"No." Anna lifted an arm, swallowing hard before resting it on Mary's shoulder.

The girl turned to Anna's side and buried her face there as she cried. Anna stared about her, searching for something but she could not fathom if she desired an escape or a reprieve. Instead she wrapped her other arm around the girl and rubbed over her back as the little girl continued to cry.

In a short time Mary was asleep and Anna lifted her into her arms. Mary's head went to her shoulder and Anna cut a tear in the air to walk through it and find herself in Mary's room. She lowered Mary onto her bed and set the doll next to her before pulling the covers over her. Risking another moment, Anna kissed her head and then stepped back through the same tear.

Closing it behind her, Anna turned and almost ran into John. Grabbing for her staff, Anna hauled in a deep breath. "You frightened me."

"I apologize." John nodded toward the window, "Mary's asleep?"

"Yes. In her own bed instead of on me."

"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy being needed."

Anna jutted a finger in John's face. "Keep her opinions in that matter to yourself." She rolled her shoulders back, "What did you learn at the palace?"

"The Queen's dead. They'll have her lie in state for a few days and then bury her, as if the custom."

"Trapped forever in a tomb of stone." Anna shook her head, walking back into the woods. "Your spirit not allowed to soar the skies."

"It's their way." John kept pace with her. "Why did you go to her?"

"To whom?"

"To Mary?"

Anna stopped, her focus on something distant in the forest. "Because no one should have to weep for their mother alone."

"Like you had to?"

Anna did not answer, she simply pushed onward toward the Moors.


	8. Misery of the Moors

Anna smiled as she watched John swoop and dart around Mary's head while the girl tried to hit him with the tiny crab apples she threw. When one got close he just knocked it from the air or grabbed it with his talons to drop into a bucket. Mary shrieked and squealed with laughter, finding more apples to toss at him.

When she found herself lacking for more she shrugged and darted into the trees. Her bare feet pounded the ground and stopped next to Anna, her heavy breathing accentuate the grin on her face. "Do you have more?"

"I think perhaps John deserves a rest." Anna extended her hand and John landed there, transferring to her shoulder and then to Mary's. "Don't you want to rest?"

"Do I get a story?"

Anna frowned and turned to John but he flew off to a high branch. She scowled at him, muttering under her breath at him. "Traitor."

She turned back to Mary, who made herself comfortable on the root next to her. Anna took a breath, rolling her shoulder and then raising her hands as Mary crawled closer to sit herself on Anna's lap. Once the girl settled, Anna tipped herself back enough to lean on the tree and try to support herself with the added weight of the girl on her lap.

"What kind of story do you want?"

"One about fairies." Mary did not look at Anna, instead making herself comfortable enough to lean over and pull up blades of grass she could then plait together.

"Why do you want to know more about fairies?"

"They're magical creatures and my aunts say they're the source of all that's good in the world."

Anna snorted, "And quite a bit that's evil as well."

Mary turned up to her, the grasses wrapping around her fingers. "What?"

"Nothing." Anna shook her head. "In answer to your aunts' comment, fairies are a source of good in the world. They're beings with innate magical ability and they can use it to help balance the world."

"Like a top?"

"More like your dinner." Anna took a breath, "It's been said that at the beginning of time there was a choice. In that choice two beings had to decide if they would live mortal lives. Short and full of wonder as they struggled to understand the world about them but with the industry to build and create and make beautiful things with their hands."

"They're like me." Mary showed Anna the plaited grasses, rolling some onto Anna's finger. "The kingdoms of Men, as my aunts call them."

"That's right." Anna pulled the grass off her finger, holding it up so Mary could watch golden sparks knit over the grass so it sprouted tiny flowers. "The other chose to be fairykind. They would live longer, tap into the powers of the earth, and balance nature through their care of nature and all living things."

"And you've got powers." Mary took the flowered plait and put it on her finger before frowning.

Anna smiled and ran her finger over the edge of the grasses until they widened enough for Mary to rest it on her head like a flowered crown. "Those powers are to be used for the protection of the earth and nothing else."

"Like a curse?"

Anna blinked, staring at Mary but the little girl had hopped off her lap, going back to plaiting more grass. "Where did you hear about that?"

"People occasionally visit my aunts. They send me to my room because they think I won't hear them then but I do. There's a crack in my floor and if I lay very still and put my ear over it I can hear everything they say." Mary attempted a more complicated pattern, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Someone said that an evil fairy laid a curse on me as a baby and that I'm here to try and escape it."

"Then they're confused. Curses can't be escaped."

"Maybe they can." Mary held up the new length of grass, appearing more like a rope. ""Maybe some fairy long ago created something to stop a curse."

"I don't think so." Anna stood, brushing off her lap and moving into the trees. Mary's little feet pounded the ground behind her, coming to her side.

"Why not?"

"Why not what?"

"Why couldn't there be a counter to the curse?"

"Because there are rules to magic. What is given must also be returned. Everything has a price and magic is no different."

"Could you pay for a curse?"

"No." Anna paused, snapping her fingers to bring a golden spark to them as she bent to face Mary. "This takes energy from me. It's small and so it doesn't take much energy. And that energy could be thought or action or sweat or even blood."

"So to break a curse…"

"You need something of equivalent power or more." Anna extinguished the glow and stood. "But that's not possible."

"Why?"

"Because there are no fairies that powerful."

"My aunts say there's one but she's evil and cruel." Mary hopped along, pulling herself to a pause. "Are you a fairy?"

"Of course I am."

"But you don't look like a fairy."

"Don't I?" Anna took a little turn, smiling with Mary's giggle. "What do I look like?"

"You look like me."

"And how is a fairy supposed to look?"

"Well," Mary stuck her arms out from her body, trying to walk in a straight line on the balls of her feet so her toes stuck out. "Fairies have wings and since you don't have wings you can't be a fairy."

Anna swallowed, a pit in her stomach ringing up to her ears. "Not all fairies have wings."

"Which ones don't?"

"I don't." Anna joined Mary, walking with her at the edge of the stream before they crossed on a log. "And since I've got magic I can't be Man like you."

"Did you ever have wings?"

"Of course." Anna took Mary's hand, helping her jump from the other end. "I used to have giant, white wings that brushed the ground when I walked on solid earth and opened up to catch all the wind when I flew on them."

"Did you trust them?"

"Of course I did. They were my wings." Anna tapped Mary's knee, "Do you trust your legs?"

"Of course."

"That's how I trusted my wings. They never faltered or failed me and they took me high into the heavens so I could see all the earth below me."

"What happened to them?"

Anna put her hand on a tree, stroking her fingers over the moss there before facing Mary. "Someone stole them from me."

"They stole your wings?" Mary clambered onto a root, trying to look at Anna's back. "How'd they do that?"

"They got me to trust them and then, when I was sleeping, they cut them from me."

"Can you get them back?"

"Not on my own." Anna shrugged, "They'd have to decide to give me back my wings."

"Did you ask them if they'd give you back your wings?"

"I did."

Mary stopped, frowning, "And they didn't?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Some people…" Anna stopped herself, her hand rubbing at a spot on her chest that tweaked with pain. "Some people are very sure what they did was right that they can't accept a change. It would mean they might've been wrong and they won't be wrong."

"Have you ever done something like that?" Mary hopped back to the ground, turning their path back toward the cottage.

"Yes."

"Did you make it right?"

Anna watched Mary walk along the log, sighing to herself as the little girl hummed to herself and took the trodden ground through the woods. "Not yet."

She turned away, ensuring Mary was back within the confines of the cottage garden, and walked a circuit around the place once before bringing her hand up in the air. Her fingers twirled as she walked the loop again, muttering quietly as gold glinted from her to set a shining boundary to the area. As she completed the circle it glowed like a dome a moment and then vanished as if it had never been. The bickering fairies inside the house did not cease for a moment and only the toothy grin from Mary before she dashed inside left any indication the action received any notice.

Anna worked back into the forest, walking slowly as a cawing sound filled her ears. She smiled to herself, ignoring the fluttering until she finally turned to address the branch where John landed. "I should leave you like that."

He cawed back, a guttural note to it.

"Why? Because you left me when she wanted a story." Anna shook her head as he chirped. "I don't care that she's never seen you as anything but a bird. That's no excuse for abandoning me when I needed you most."

Another set of chirps and caws had Anna raising her eyebrow. "And you think that's sufficient apology?" A moaning whine came next and Anna waved her hand at him, trying to hide her laugh when he toppled from the branch to hit the ground as a man. "I'll accept that."

"I think you take great pleasure in my pain."

"Not great pleasure, no." Anna shrugged, waiting for him to catch up before continuing to walk. "Just significant pleasure."

"What you said back there, about the curse, is that true?"

"Which part?" Anna tried to continue walking but John put a hand on her shoulder. "If you're partial to that hand, or that wing, I'd remove it before I leave it permanently damaged."

John removed his hand quickly, gesturing with his hand behind him. "When you said it could only be lifted by a greater power than yours."

"What about it?"

"Is it true?"

"Of course it's true. I've no reason to lie to the girl."

"You're omitting certain facts when you didn't tell her you cast the curse."

Anna closed her eyes, letting her head rest back on her neck a moment. "And what good would it do that four-year-old girl to learn that I cursed her?"

"She deserves the truth."

"You speak an awful lot about what people 'deserve' and I wonder what exactly you think you 'deserve'." Anna waited and then shook her head. "The truth, ugly as it is, is that we don't deserve anything in this life. The only guarantee is that we will die and that's it."

"Are you so cruel?"

"I'm pragmatic, there's a difference." Anna allowed a little smile, "Haven't you learned that in the four years you've been by my side?"

"I've a learned a great number of things and yet I feel I don't know you at all."

"Is this where you ask me a deep question that will answer your stubborn concerns?"

"You told Princess Mary about your people."

"I told you about them as well."

"But not about you." John tapped her shoulder, pulling them to a stop along side the stream. "What happened to your people that left you as the only one of your kind?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because it makes you sad."

Anna paused, "And that concerns you?"

"Of course it does." John blinked at her, "I care about you."

"Oh…" Anna flexed her jaw, "I thought…"

"What?"

"You've not spoken about it or..."

"Or kissed you?" John risked a step forward, "Do you want to be?"

"I thought you didn't want to since you hadn't in… four years." Anna pulled at her fingers, "I… I'm not someone who's easy to love since I've never been loved before."

"Do you want to be loved?"

"I'm an orphan who lost her parents before I could even fly straight. I've never been loved, John."

"What about Green?"

Anna clenched her jaw. "That wasn't love."

"You thought it was and he thought it was." John shrugged, "What if love is what we make of it?"

"Love is supposed to last."

"Not all love."

Anna groaned, walking back toward the Moors. "Is the kind of love you want to share with me the kind of love that doesn't last?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what are you saying, John?" Anna whirled on him, forcing him back a pace. "Because if you want to know more about me then it comes down the fact that my people were systematically hunted and murdered for generations until my parents, who found one another by the grace of whatever god out there deigned to give them attention, were the last of their kind. They had me and then Man slaughtered them while I was still in my proverbial crib. I was raised alone, unloved, and forgotten by the other fairies jealous of my powers and anxious to be rid of the fairies that drew attention to our existence. The same fairies who exulted in the loss of my wings because it diminished by powers."

"What does losing your-"

"They're part of who I am. When a part of yourself is cut away you aren't the same." Anna took a breath, "That part of myself left me unable to bear children because not only do I not have another of my kind who could save me from being the last but I also lost that skill when I lost my wings."

"How are they connected?"

"I don't know. All I know is my wings weren't the only things taken from me." Anna flicked her gaze to the ground. "I'm no longer a fairy, I'm no longer able to have children, and I'm no longer someone anyone loves because you abandoned me like he did."

"I didn't-"

"Please," Anna put up a hand, "Just leave me in peace."

"You're not at peace."

"Then leave me to my turmoil." Anna shook her head, "You left me to it before."

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me you sought me out. You wanted to know me better. You said you wanted to love me." Anna stabbed at his chest, sending him back a step. "But you didn't. You dangled the possibility of a promise before me and then snatched it away to do what? Convince me to take a care about the life of a Princess who'll grow to be like her father."

"You don't know that."

"But I do." Anna leveled her finger in the direction of the cottage. "You think her father wasn't lovely at her age? You think he couldn't ask simple questions or think the world was a simple as she does? Despite all the similarities the greatest of them is that she'll become exactly like him."

"He didn't have you at that age."

"He had me for years, John, and what did it do?" Anna turned her back to him, showing the smooth parts of her bone. "It left me broken and a fraction of myself."

"That's not all you are."

"This is all I am now." Anna walked away from him, cutting a rift in the air to walk through it, and then sealing it behind her a second after she turned him back into a bird. "It's all I've got left of myself."

* * *

 _Bright wings soared above her head and she jumped, her wings flapping with all the strength she could muster as her legs pushed her up as high as she could go. But the determined flap of her wings only sustained her for another moment before she tumbled to the ground. Her shoulder rolled her and her wings covered her to protect her from twigs and roots but when she rose her hair hung about her face in a draggled mess._

 _She batted at it, tangling it further until the angelic call of another voice filled her ears. "You need to tie it back when you fly or else you could blind yourself."_

 _Soft hands adjusted her head and smooth fingers delved into the blonde locks to untangle the strands. A moment later, deft digits tied the hair back to leave her face clear and she used the chance to smile broadly at the woman who knelt before her, matching blonde hair tied back in a similar manner. "I almost flew Mother."_

 _"_ _I'm sure you did Anna. I was watching from up there." She pointed and Anna followed her finger to see the tree growing off the edge of the cliff. "One day, when you can fly up there, we'll go back to the tree that gave us life."_

 _"_ _We'll live there?"_

 _"_ _Right where our first ancestors spread their wings and flew." Her hands cupped Anna's face. "The place where they accepted the fruit that gave them wings so they could be defenders of the Moors."_

 _"_ _Who gave them the wings?"_

 _"_ _I don't know." The woman smiled, shrugging her shoulders and laughing as Anna copied her motions. "But whomever they were entrusted us with a sacred duty to protect the Moors, defend its peoples, and take the care of the earth under our wings."_

 _"_ _Is that what you do?"_

 _"_ _It's what all of our people did, for generations." Her blue eyes lost a touch of their shine as she continued. "It's why there are so few of us left."_

 _"_ _Because they went to protect other parts of the world?"_

 _"_ _Because…" Her mother sighed, "Because they did they duty."_

 _"_ _A duty," Arms wrapped around Anna, lifting her from the ground to carry her to a tree she climbed in a moment. "That means your mother and I have to leave you for a little while."_

 _"_ _Will you be back?" Anna crawled to the edge of the branch, laying over it._

 _Her parents held hands, both beating their wings gently to rise from the ground and kiss both of her cheeks at once. "Before you even know we're gone."_

 _"_ _Promise?"_

 _"_ _Promise."_

 _They lifted into the air, soaring straight up in a rush that left enough downdraft to flutter the leaves off the trees near Anna. She giggled and turned onto her back, watching them spin in the air and then fly away over the border of the Moors. Climbing higher in the tree, Anna watched as they swooped down over a dust cloud._

 _Again and again they dived only to rise at the last moment and pull away. Anna mimicked their movements with her hands, making noises to accompany it and watching in awe all the while. An awe that furrowed her brow to confusion when her father's shape dived but did not return to the sky after a moment. A moment that turned into an eternity soon echoed by her mother flailing in the air and falling from sight._

 _Anna hurried down the tree, running through the forest as fast as her flying feet could carry her, and wove between the branches and roots to reach the edge of the Moors. She now saw the dust cloud in detail and there were people inside it. They had no wings and wielded weapons that glinted in the sun. As she went to move forward something grabbed her arm and held her back._

 _Turning her head up, Anna recognized one of the tree nymphs, her twig-like hands wrapping delicately around Anna's arm. She put her other hand up, finger curving to rest over her lips, and guided Anna back toward the shadows. The stone golems that protected the edge of the Moors remained dormant as the dust cloud dispersed and then the nymph released Anna's arm._

 _She ran out to the field, leaning on one of the golems as she recognized the wing of her parents' wings. But they were twisted and bent, unable to fly. The feathers stuck out at awkward angles, like their bodies as Anna moved closer. They did not move as she called to them, her fingers digging into the stone golem as she remembered the rule her parents always told her._

 _"_ _Never leave the safety of the Moors. Never pass the boundary of the stone guardians. Promise us Anna."_

 _There she wailed for her parents but they did not heed her and did not move. The torn ground about them laced with gold-green light as Anna sobbed, falling to her knees as the gold-green of her magic licked and moved out in an ever-lengthening radius from her. It spun and wove until their wings returned to normal, shining and gleaming in the rising of the moon. The lights sparked until her parents, now lying together with their hands intertwined, sunk into the earth._

 _Where they lay sprung with flowers and a new golem formed over the grave so its menacing mouth growled toward the world. There Anna slept, that night and all nights until her wings would bear her weight. When she could fly around the boundary line she sunk the golem into the ground, swallowing her parents' grave, and flew to the tree on the edge of the cliff._

 _The place where the life of her kind began. Where her life began. Where the line of her kind would end. Where she would end._

* * *

Anna dangled her feet from the edge of the branch and stared down at the distance below. Only the moon lit the world about her, glinting off the water far below as the sounds rang in her ears distant and hollow. Sounds that could not cover up the thump of John's beating wings.

She did not react as he landed on the branch next to her. Did not move when he shifted to her shoulder. Anna only moved when the horizon glowed pink. Then she rose, walking deftly back to the trunk of the tree and sliding back to the more solid ground of the cliff.

With a wave of her fingers she returned John to his human form and stared at him. "I thought we finished our conversation."

"I thought so too but…" He slid his foot along the ground. "I realized that I didn't tell you why."

"Why what?"

"Why I haven't kissed you since then." John took a step forward, his hands reaching out to hold Anna's face. "It's because I thought I was too lucky, that it was a dream, and it couldn't possibly be real."

"And now?"

"It's the thing most real to me." His eyes bored into hers and Anna sighed.

"What does that mean?"

"I want to make it real for you." John took a breath, "I love you, Anna, and I want to show you how much I love you."

He waited a moment, "May I?"


	9. Magic of the Moors

Anna nodded and leaned into the kiss he pressed so gently on her lips. They waited a beat, neither moving as they settled into the sensation, and then John moved first. But as his lips parted from hers Anna's hands flew up to cup his jaw and keep him close. She scrunched her eyes closed, forcing herself to focus on the caress of his lips against hers instead of succumbing to the temptation to open her eyes and look at him.

If she looked she knew her nerves would get the better of her. If she looked it would all be a dream and they would be back where they were. If she looked then it would be over.

Her nostrils flared, trying to suck air into her starving lungs as she refused to lose the touch of his lips. His hands covered hers, smoothing up her arms to caress her shoulders and then dip down toward her torso. Anna shivered as he brushed against the sides of her breasts and John froze. The kiss broke and Anna brought her arms back toward herself as her eyes flew open.

Their eyes widened and Anna turned to go but John's hands tightened their grip on her, thumbs smoothing over the material of her dress. One of his hands sculpted up her back, following the curve of her back when she arched toward him, and guided her back toward him. The only thing Anna could hear over her own heartbeat was John's breathing when he opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For waiting so long to do this." His fingers trailed in her hair, letting it slide over his skin. "And for not knowing how you want to be touched."

"I think you're touching me alright." Anna dragged her teeth over the inside of her cheek. "I've never… I've never been touched like this before."

"I've never…" John swallowed, "I've never done this as a man before."

"I've never done it at all." Anna let her arms fall, the silk of his shirt like water under her fingers. "I've only seen it from a distance and only by accident."

"I've only ever seen it too." John used the backs of his fingers against her cheek while the other hand edged closer to where he touched before, giving Anna another shiver.

"Then how do you know what you're doing?"

John managed a bit of a smile, dipping his head toward hers again. "Because I've observed human behavior a bit more rigorously than you have. You can see so much more as a bird when they don't know you're hoping to learn from them. Especially when you're intent on seeing it."

"You sought it out?"

"I needed to know how I could do it if I ever had the chance."

Anna went red along her cheeks and neck, overwhelmingly ungrateful that the lack of darkness would leave every bit of her visible to him. But John only kissed along her cheeks, letting his tongue slip out to lick at her blush. He hummed against her skin and Anna gripped his shirt, tightening her fingers in the material to try and support herself and continue standing, when her legs turned to jelly.

John's leg moved between hers, easing them down beneath the tree that hung from the cliff. Her back rested on the ground, the stubs of her wingbones digging into the thick grass, and John settled above her. His kisses continued to trace the flush of her embarrassment until it turned to the flush of arousal and Anna writhed a bit under him.

She tried to respond to an instinct she did not understand in an instance where nature taught her the fringes of what she needed to know. Her body reacted outside her control, in what she prayed was the proper response for John's actions, and each attempt to get closer to him or to solve the ache she failed to identify met the gentle vibrations of his approval. His hands ran up and down her sides, easing over her dress to drag the material in rasping motions that left her tuned like a bowstring. When his mouth lifted from the skin at her collar, the slight shine of his kisses on her skin, he waited until she finally looked at him.

"I don't know all the finer points of this but I promise I'll try." Anna could only nod and swallowed at the furrow to John's brow. "If you're not sure or you want-"

"I want this." Anna raised her hand toward his face but stopped herself, settling for resting it over his beating heart, noting the gentle thud of his opposing the racing of her own. "I just… I need you to show me."

"I'll teach you what I know." John lowered his mouth to her ear, the growled whisper burning Anna's blood and sending her body moving again. "And the rest we'll figure out together."

Her hands found his cheeks and pulled him toward her, sloppy and desperate in the kiss she planted hard on his lips. After a moment he held her, guiding her mouth to soften and move, and waited for her to continue. At each juncture of their kiss he led her to the next step until she could only moan into his mouth as the rush of sensations setting all of her nerves on fire.

John pulled back after a moment, taking his kisses to her face as Anna hauled in air to fill her starving lungs. Lungs she would gladly sacrifice to continue perfecting her kisses. Kisses she pulled John back into and then melted against him at the moan he gave her.

When he pulled away this time, a grin stretched over his face, his fingers brushed her hair back. "Being human is such a different experience."

"Haven't you realized that before?"

"Not the little things." John kissed her again, tracing over the definitions of her face between statements as he continued his thought and proceeded to leave her a puddle of pleasure beneath him. "The tongue, for instance, is so different as a man. When you're a bird it's limited in function and not used for mating. There's also no foreplay so there's no point to it."

"What?" Anna blinked, her mind hazing under the fog of pleasure as John continued his attentions to her face and neck.

"As a human you can taste so much more with your tongue. And it makes kissing pleasurable because you can taste your partner and map their mouth and lick their skin and-"

Anna lifted a leg to his hip to hold him in place as she dragged him back to her lips. His body rocked toward hers and her lips opened to gasp as something pressed into her stomach. The gasp gave John, quite literally, the opening he needed to enter her mouth with his tongue and suck hers. She groaned into him as the overwhelming confusion of pleasures left her twisting against him.

Their shifting and shuffling over the ground rucked up the material of her dress and Anna jumped when John's hand landed on her bare leg. He stopped, eyes wide, and she tried to speak but could only nod him on. With one hand at her neck, stroking through the tendrils of her hair to send shivers of relaxation through her, John traced his hand over her leg until he managed to bring the material even higher. His thumb brushed over her hip, tracing the invisible lines of the muscles undulating under skin, and Anna gripped and grasped at the ground under her or at John to try and find a stabilizing force as each brush of his fingers closer to where she burned.

In all the years of living in the forest, Anna could not explain the process. She knew that spring brought the mating of all animals. Even fairies endured the heat and while she recognized the stirrings of those sensations when she had loved Green, what ran along each of her limbs and through her very body like lightning was nothing she could explain. Mating was necessary, a continuation of the population and nothing more than reproduction. This… This was something quite different.

The burn at her core sparked and fizzed and rushed when John's fingers dipped toward it. Anna might even dare to suggest it was a mistake, given the feather-light touch, but when John did it again and continued pressing closer and harder she knew otherwise. Their eyes met, words ultimately failing her as he held her gaze and ran his fingers along the seam there. Her hips tilted of their own accord, as the need to seek the completion of the pleasure overwhelming her remained the only thought burning through Anna's brain. It had to end sometime or she might go mad.

But John gave her the slightest of smiles, fingers gentle but insistent, and continued his adoration of her. Her dress rucked higher on her hips and Anna finally slipped her legs higher, bending them to force the material to her waist, and then sat up. Her sudden move forced John back and he went to speak but Anna crossed her arms to grab the dress from opposing hips and wrench it over her head. It fluttered to the ground and she almost did not have time to blush when John's jaw dropped wide.

When he failed to move, Anna raised her arms as if to cover herself but his hand rested on hers. He lowered her hands to the ground, leaning her back to rest on her palms as his sculpted down her sides. Slipping over her, forcing Anna back to the ground, John placed his lips gently on hers but did not press. It was Anna who surged up and took his face in her hands to mold him to her.

This, she quickly realized, was his plan all along. He used her distraction, that moment when she thought she controlled what happened, to send her into ecstasy. An ecstasy she found when his hands ran over her. Moving in a blur to take her in all at once and then slowing as if to play the highest note he could find with the lightest touch.

He left her squirming and panting against him, trying to find her a stable moment with her lips seared to his. But even that he snatched away from her so he could take his lips to her body. Her cheeks, her neck, her shoulders, and her breasts all bore the signs of his adoration while his hands and fingers continued to play her so her sounds echoed and reverberated over the Moors.

There was nothing to be done but give over to it. Give over to his lips wrapping themselves around her nipples to tug and tease while she arched into him and her fingers dug into his hair as if she could bring him closer to her. Give over to his fingers when they stroked along her seam, glided between her folds, and eventually dug deep into her core so her walls wrapped and clung to his digits with each caress. Give over to the way he blocked each attempt she made to force him faster or harder or longer until all Anna could do was surrender. To his experience, his dedication, and his skill until she crashed over an edge she did not even know existed.

As she panted, trying to breathe past the whimpers and sobs that expressed what no words could hope to, John lightened his touch. His lips still moved over her, something Anna could only see through her hooded eyes. His fingers continued to stroke along her burning center as her twitching legs continued to spasm. His body slid down hers while her muscles quivered against him.

That was when her world changed. The sparks she thought might be dying only electrified. The fire burning toward embers as her energy drained into the earth lit anew. The hopes she had of matching him vanished when his lips closed over her nerves.

In all of her limited experience, there was no way for her to comprehend this. No way to register the crook and tuck of his fingers against her walls while his tongue swirled at her clit. No way for her to understand the buck and twist of her hips to force his fingers deeper. No way to seek grounding when she flew for the first time in years as John licked and lapped over her. All she could do was whimper, keen, and cry out with each burst of color behind her eyelids.

So she did.

John responded to her. His fingers sawed faster and then slowed, ramping her up only to let her fall a bit before raising her again. With a grin she could only feel as it stretched over his face, John pointed his tongue and dug deep into her to join his fingers. Anna arched off the ground and his other hand held at her ass to bring her closer to his mouth. A mouth he used to lave and drink from her before his tongue wrapped her clit again.

This time Anna could claim no more preparedness for that edge. The pleasure, already so fresh in her system, drove her to scrunch her eyes closed in an attempt to shut out even a fraction of the sensations overwhelming her. But there was nothing to be done but ride the storm and submit to the wave crashing over her body as she shuddered and quivered.

Fingers intertwined with hers and Anna forced her eyes open to see John moving over her again. Her other hand wrapped a fist in his shirt, dragging him close to her but stopped at the last moment. In the morning light she saw a glisten to his lips and chin. Her tongue darted out, tasting for a moment, and then tentatively placed her lips over his.

With no guidance, no experience, and only a world of reproductive necessity to teach her, Anna stepped from the edge of the cliff. Her leg wrapped over his hip, scraping over the material of his trousers while her hand continued to fist in his shirt. His hand at her ass kneaded and lifted so she spread her legs about his waist a bit more. That same heat from behind pressed between her legs and Anna moaned into the kiss. It opened her mouth wider, took John's tongue deeper, and forced her to suck what she realized was her taste from him.

A taste she wondered if he liked. Anna's lips paused on his, separating them for a moment as her eyes flicked up to his. They stared at one another for a moment and then John pulled away.

She reached for him but he leaned back, keeping his hands and arms away from her, to kiss her gently. With just the flick of his tongue against her lips, he soothed her so he could draw back again. Draw back so Anna could watch as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped his trousers to the ground with the boots he always grumbled about wearing.

In his position, Anna watched the light bathe him. It turned his skin gold, sparkling in his eyes and off the parts of his face that bore the signs of the kisses he left when she still dripped. Her eyes swept him, hands idly brushing the grass under her as if to keep herself from touching him, and took in every part of his anatomy she knew so well with clothes but felt so foreign bared to the world.

Her legs bent toward her body and Anna sat up. With a swiftness that belied her terror, she rested her hand on his chest, palm flat and fingers splaying out for a minute as if to ground herself there before relaxing. His hand covered hers but only rested over her, following her movements as she tracked the skin from his collar to his heart. The steady thump did more to reassure her than words ever could and she took courage to map the rest of him.

Map from his collar to his shoulder, down one arm and back to the other. To sigh at the soft hair so different and yet so similar to the feathers she stroked along his back when he perched on her shoulder or her knee. To map the broad distance from his chest to his waist and all the spaces between that left him shivering and sighing. To find the dips of his hips and the power of his thighs as he knelt before her gaze, between her spread legs. And finally, the run a finger along the arousal before her.

That part she knew. The forest was no place for naiveté in that. Each animal had their differences but the function remained the same. The basic tool of procreation, the key that fit the keyhole.

But something in the way John quivered when she ran a finger along him. Something in the heat radiating from him to her hand. Something in the impulse to wrap over him and squeeze taught her more in one instant than a lifetime of enduring spring and the seemingly inevitably interminable mating season.

The way it warmed her.

Most animals thought no farther than their next meal, their next safe resting place, or their next shed coat. Most animals only sought out mating for the purpose of reproduction, controlled by the seasons and their hormones. Most animals did not seek procreation for pleasure.

But as Anna tightened her hold, varied the caress of her hand along John, and even fondled a moment at the sack beneath, Anna realized she wanted more. More than a spring coupling to ensure another generation. More than the animalistic grunting and moaning of the animals. More than just joining their bodies. She wanted them joined forever.

When she went to hold harder, to stroke along him again, John's hand tightened over hers. He wrapped her wrist, extricating himself from her grip before bringing her hand to his mouth. The kiss he pressed to her palm set her on fire and kept her close to him as John turned to lay back on the ground.

Anna frowned, her knees still up and her legs spread, but he lay next to her. His hand stayed with hers, lowering himself and shifting to get comfortable before meeting her eyes. He smiled at her raised eyebrow.

"I've heard it's more comfortable for human women this way."

"I'm not a human."

"Neither am I." John tugged her toward him and Anna climbed on her knees before straddling his legs. "But since we can't do it the way I know, I guess we'll have to do it the way I think it goes, with you mounting me."

"This isn't mounting."

"Yes it is."

"No, that's when the male gets behind the female and…" Anna stopped, noting John's surprised and worried expression. "The mammals do it that way."

"Would you rather…"

"No," Anna shifted forward, biting the tip of her tongue when his erection brushed her still buzzing nerves. "I think I've seen enough people riding horses to understand how to mount this way."

"I guess we've both got much to learn about how this works."

Anna smiled, lifting onto her knees and bending over to let her tongue trace the still shining spot on his chin before kissing him. "I guess we do."

"Together then?"

"Together." Anna positioned herself, a hand tentative on his arousal as she adjusted him slightly. When it pressed to her, shocks and echoes promising much more, she turned to him. John nodded and Anna hauled in a deep breath.

She sank slowly, the stretch pulling her to pause and grit her teeth. John's hands slid over her skin, massaging and kneading until she spread her legs and sank further. When their hips met, Anna stopped.

Blinking, and forcing herself to breathe deeply, Anna put her hands on John's chest. Each breath struggled to enter her lungs as her body constricted but she used his heartbeat under her palms and the rise and fall of her hands to guide her. Pressing on his chest and with her knees, Anna pulled herself up. Her walls clung to him as she moved until just the tip of him remained inside her before lowering herself again.

John's fingers dug into her hips and his own raised from the ground to thrust into her. Anna gasped, holding herself still as her ground against her to try and seat himself deeply inside her, and waited for the moment of pleasure to end. But it did not.

Not when she ground back, gyrating and twisting her hips to counter his motions. Not when she learned to quicken her pace so she could bounce and slide over him. Not when he tried to rut against her or used his fingers to help excite already firing nerves at her clit. Not when he crushed their lips together and continued bringing their hips into alignment as the wet sounds of them matched their groans and pants. And not when her body screamed release as John's did the same.

She fell onto him, their bodies vibrating together until they settled. Anna turned her head so her ear rested over his heart and noted the golden glow to her fingers. With a smile she twisted them in the grass and watched as a flower immediately bloomed there.

The shift of John under her had Anna turning her head to rest her chin on his chest. She watched him frown at the flower and then run a finger over the petals before bringing that finger to stroke her cheek. Turning her head, Anna kissed it and then wrapped her hand around his to kiss there as well.

"I guess you learned quite a bit from your studies." Anna kissed over his heart, grinning as he lifted his head to kiss her.

"I was very motivated." The fingers of his other hand drifted over her skin. "I do hope it was what you expected."

"How could I expect anything?" Anna traced the dips and hollows of his skin as it stretched and pulled over his muscles and bones. "I've only ever seen mating in spring and that's note the slightest bit fascinating to me."

"Not in the slightest?"

Anna pursed her lips at his doubtful eyebrow. "After I grew to maturity I found it not nearly as curious as when I was younger. It grew tiresome and repetitive."

"It was a part of life for me." John shrugged and Anna adjusted, slipping to lay next to him on the grass. "It was a force of nature. You obeyed it and that was it."

"Was it different?"

"Everything about being a bird is different from being a man."

Anna ducked her head, her fingers following the skin that covered with feathers when she required him to fly. "Do you regret it?"

John turned his head to her, a finger under his chin forcing her to look at him. "Nothing and no one could make me regret it."

"But you're not what you were anymore."

"Neither are you." John brushed hair from her face, stroking it back from her face. "We're different people because we change."

"Not all change is good."

"Be that as it may," John's tone chided her as his hand glided over her arm, back and forth in a rhythm that steadied Anna's thundering heart. "No matter what happens, I could never regret it."

"Never?"

"Never." John smiled, "I only know that I am now what I was always meant to be."

"A man?"

"By your side." Anna went to open her mouth but John pressed a finger over her lips. "For all you've endured, for all we've endured you and I, can't we just let this be enough? Just for this moment, let it be enough."

Anna kissed his finger and then sucked it into her mouth, forcing herself to focus when she wanted to grin at the way John's eyes rolled back into his head. Instead she used her hand to pull his finger from her mouth and guide it between her legs. Her hips moved against his hand as it spread to immediately place his thumb on her clit and slide a second finger inside her.

"It's not enough when I want so much more from you." Anna kept her grip on his wrist as she put her other hand to his shoulder and pulled him over her. "I want to know everything with you. I want to find all those secrets of this together, with you."

"Could you bear it?" John dipped his head, kissing over her neck and lining her jaw before coming to her lips as her legs spread around him and his hand moved faster. "Could we even find it?"

"I'm willing to do all I can to try." Anna paused, her grip loosening on him while he slowed. "Are you?"

John kissed her, moving her legs around his waist and driving into her. He moved quickly, thrusting deeply so Anna's head rocked back against the ground. She lifted her hips, her fingers digging into the skin of his arms to hold herself closer to him. Their foreheads touched, Anna's arms wrapping tighter around his shoulders and meeting each of his pistoning motions by holding her knees to his sides, and all she could hear between them was the beat of their hearts.

His hand pulled her closer, sliding from a grip at her ass to her thigh to spread her wider, and drove harder. Anna shifted her hand to the back of his neck to pull his lips to hers when her fingers worked between them. She fumbled and struggled, trying to find that spot that brought her the pleasure she needed. John's other hand guided her there and a few moments later she fell from the peak. It took no time for John to join her, dropping his head to her shoulder as they struggled to breathe.

After a moment he whispered in her ear, "I hope to show you how much I love you for the rest of my life."

Anna raised her head to look to at him, her fingers smoothing his hair back from his forehead. "I don't think I could find anyone in the world better than you."

"I hope not." John kissed her, sliding back from her to lay next to her.

Her fingers intertwined with his and she held him close. "I think I love you too… But I don't know."

"How could you know?"

"I'm not sure." Anna faced him, "But I know that the only person who could help me is you."

"I'm honored." John sighed, laying back and pulling Anna closer.

"Maybe it's like finding magic." Anna sat up, pulling her arms around her knees as she brought them toward her chest. "You can't see it or touch it but it's just there and you know it when you feel it."

"I don't know anything about magic but if I did, I'd say it's what love is."

"I guess there is magic in that." Anna flicked her fingers in the air, watching the gold streams coming off them like strands that faded immediately in the air. "What if it's what this is?"

"What if?" John sat up with her. "What would you do?"

"I'd want more of it." Anna turned to him, moving to straddle him again. "What else did you learn from watching humans?"


	10. Knowledge of Man

Anna folded her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes as she watched Mary running around with a boy her age. They laughed and giggled as they followed the river in their race with one another. She kept pace with them, invisible in the foliage with John on her shoulder, and continued her appraisal with a frown.

A claw dug through the material of her dress and into her shoulder, forcing Anna to turn her face to John. He squawked and Anna flicked her fingers in his direction. He jumped from her shoulder to land on his two human feet next to her, dusting himself for a moment, and Anna sighed at him.

"What?"

"You dug your talon into my shoulder," Anna wagged her finger at him, peeking over his shoulder and adjusting her course to keep Mary and the boy in her line of sight. "I assumed you had something you didn't want to me to attempt to translate from whatever dialect you speak through your beak."

"I'm curious why you're watching them."

Anna raised her eyebrows and gave a shrug, "Is there a question implied in that statement?"

John sighed, as if trying to chide her for willfully refusing to understand him. "Why are you watching her so closely?"

"You're the one who wanted me to take an interest in her life." Anna shrugged and leaned against a tree, squinting at the sun that dappled through the branches as if attempting to blind her. "I happen to find the presence of a man a bit… disturbing."

"He's no more than ten. They're children and it's harmless."

"I thought my friendship with a boy was harmless."

John almost groaned. "Is your worry that she'll find someone to love and your curse'll be broken?"

Anna shook her head, "I don't want her heart to get broken. My curse is no never mind at this point."

"It's impacted her life."

"It's nothing."

"She lives here, with three fairies who are… negligent without intent, it's true, but they're kind enough to her to help her forget that she's not got a mother and no father in sight."

"He's in sight." Anna pointed through the trees to the distant castle, just barely visible from its prominent position on the large hill. "She can see him every day if she wishes to."

"You know what I mean and stop pretending you don't."

Anna shook her head, waving him off. "She's living a good enough life. There are those who care for her, she's met her mother, and her father won't be the poor influence we both know he'd be on her life."

"We don't know he'd be that." John made a motion and Anna started walking away from him to continue shadowing the progress of Mary and the boy. "He might've locked her in a tower and allowed her to waste away. Or he could've treated her poorly in memory of me. Or-"

"Or any number of things you don't have the right to predict for her." John wagged his finger at her, "You can't pretend you cast that curse for her good."

"No." Anna admitted, picking up the edge of her skirt to step over a jumble of roots. "I admit I did what I did to ruin her father and I hope it worked."

"Even if she's the collateral damage?"

"We're all collateral damage to someone for something."

"It's…" John huffed a grunt of frustration. "You're intentionally trying to dodge the issue staring us in the face."

"Which is?"

"You're afraid that boy could one day represent true love's kiss."

Anna stopped, turning on her heel to face John. "As you said, they're ten. It's nothing for them to be together and it's no threat to my curse."

"You wouldn't grip your staff so tightly if you thought otherwise."

Anna noted her white knuckles and immediately released her strangling grip on her staff. "I do… worry, about her."

"Because you care."

"Because, when I was her age, I was taken in and I wouldn't want that to happen to her." Anna swallowed and continued tracking the children. "Like I said, I don't want her heart broken."

"That's part of life."

"Says the man who spends half his time as a bird." Anna snorted, "Tell me what you could possibly have learned about love when you grew to maturity in a body with wings and no concept of what love is?"

"I think you're discounting the last ten years I've spent in your service." John gave a little scoff of his own, "Eleven, almost."

"You have been a considerable asset."

"Asset?" John managed to jump ahead of her, blocking Anna's forward motion. "Is that all I am? An asset?"

Anna held his gaze, her hand coming up to his face to stroke her fingers gently there. "No. You're far more than that to me."

"But you can't admit it?"

"I…" Anna took a deep breath. "I want to. I want to say the words that you deserve to hear but I can't. I can't say them and not taste a bitterness in my mouth. I can't say them and not wonder, even if there is the tiniest part of myself that lives in that darkness, if perhaps you'll betray me like he did."

She took his hands, resting her staff to the side. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm broken and that I can't love you the way you deserve."

John kissed her fingers, running his thumbs over them. "There is no 'deserve', remember? There's only life and if this is what you can give me then I'll be happy with it for as long as you decide. I'll demand nothing but what you want to give me."

"Then I want…" Anna swallowed, "I want you. I want to be with you and I want whatever we could find together. I want to grow better with you."

John slipped his hands from hers and carefully cupped her face so he could lean forward and place his lips gently on hers. Anna closed her eyes and sank into the feeling of having him close to her again. A shift or two later and her back gently thumped against the tree trunk.

His body held her there, thoroughly distracting her from her earlier determination to keep an eye on Mary. Her fingers clawed slowly up his silky shirt to hold herself closer to him and John stepped into her so their hips collided. All sound merged to one gentle buzz in her ears as she lost herself in the sensation of his lips on hers.

A shriek brought Anna out of her moment and she flattened her hands on John's chest to stop him. His harsh breathing pelted her ears but Anna ducked under his arms and pushed to the very edge of the trees to see Mary jumping into the river. The boy already swam with her but Mary's arms batted at the water, an edge of terror on her face, and Anna sprinted to the edge of the river to dive in.

The pull of the water, the layers of current tugging and ripping at her, but Anna surged to break for air. She kicked hard in the water toward Mary's flailing arms and ignored the terrified cries of the boy. He paddled his way to the bank, sobbing and crying out as Mary's hands flailed under the current and swept downstream.

Anna focused herself and closed her eyes before sinking under the water herself. It rushed her between rocks, scraping over her skin and gashing her deeply but she ignored it. Instead she opened her eyes to follow Mary's progress and held her hands tight to her sides as her lungs burned in her torpedo toward the girl's position.

Even from the shrinking distance, Anna could see Mary's form weakening. Her pulls to try and save herself feel short, the length of her arms no longer at their reach, and Anna maneuvered through the water to reach out an arm toward the sinking girl. The bite of deoxygenation in her blood blackened the edges of Anna's vision but with a fierce kick she latched onto Mary's dress and brought their bodies together. Holding her close, Anna closed her eyes and wrapped her body around the small girl as they went over the edge of the waterfall.

The fall, despite the crash of the water, rang silent in Anna's ears. Her hand over Mary's heart detected the barest hint of a beat and in the few moments they had in the freefall, they both managed to haul in a gasping breath. They hit the water at the bottom of the falls, Mary still clutched close to Anna's chest, and speared into the turbulent water at speed.

Despite the speed, Anna's legs did not break but bent to catch them on the silt-filled, rocky bottom of the falls to push them upward. Their heads broke the surface and Anna struggled to blink away the dancing red and black colors from her eyes to kick them to the alcove behind the falls. Mary clung to her, the weight and alarm in her movements almost threatening Anna's own safety, and only let go when Anna dragged her tiny body onto the rocky shore.

They rested there, Mary's body shaking from the shock, the fear, and her lack of air, and Anna watched her carefully. The girl's eyes hazed and blinked as her chest rose and fell in smaller and smaller motions before finally stilling. Anna froze, waiting, praying to whatever gods remained in the world, that her chest would move again. But it stilled.

She rubbed her hands together furiously, the sparks of gold shining there not quite enough. Her fingers shook and trembled with cold and her own lack of energy but Anna tried anyway. Tried to bring her magic to the fore but fear or exhaustion or whatever else kept it blocked. Not even the green tendrils of her twisted magic could find tehri way through to help her. All she knew abandoned her in a moment as Mary lay still before her.

A sound from the cave mouth alerted her and John's form swam to the bank. He only spared Anna a glance before kneeling next to Mary's body. Anna could not even speak to explain, sobs and gasps that rasped against her raw throat left her silent in the face of the nearness of Death. But John put a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly.

"It'll be alright."

Anna could not even summon the energy to argue as Mary's life drained away from her like the water leaking off her drenched body. John titled Mary's head slightly so it bent back on her neck. His fingers, ever so delicate, opened Mary's mouth and he put his mouth over hers. Anna frowned and tried to say something but John's hold on Mary's face and the forced breaths he injected into Mary's mouth stopped him.

She watched, in horrified fascination, as John's fingers interlaced and he set his palms on Mary's chest. His arms remained straight and he pushed down while counting under his breath. Each pump of his arms moved Mary's tiny body until he stopped, returning to the breathing, and repeated the process. Every moment he tried gave Anna a brief moment of hope before Mary's failure to respond dragged her back to the edge of despair.

In a moment, as his body sagged, Anna pushed forward and put her hands on Mary's chest as she tried to mimic John's motions. Each pump of her arms brought a trickle of golden light dancing over Mary's chest and when Anna put her mouth over Mary's to breathe into her lungs, Mary's body moved. Anna cried out in surprise as Mary's chest rose and fell on her own. Her small fingers held at her damp dress and looked between Anna and John.

No one spoke before Anna pulled Mary's into her grip. She clutched the girl to her, embracing her until Mary's hands pushed at her. Anna held Mary's face, her fingers stroking through the damp tresses before separating herself from her.

Anna swallowed and stood, as if to walk away from Mary. But Mary's small hand grasped at Anna's and pulled her back down. Her small form crawled into Anna's lap and held herself close to the woman's chest as they breathed in unison. Eventually breathing until Mary's heavy breaths sent her to sleep.

John's hand landed on Anna's shoulder and helped her stand as she continued trying to hold Mary. He carefully took Mary into his arms and nodded toward the entrance. "You lead the way. We'll take her back to the other fairies."

Anna nodded and led them back toward the falls. They skirted the rocky edge of the pool where the falls drained and began the difficult climb up the hill back to the river. When they reached the top they paused, each taking deep breaths to try and find the energy to move again, before working their way back through the woods toward Mary's home.

They waited at the edge of the clearing before sneaking toward the house and finally through the door. The emptiness inside, the bare necessities as the only decorations of the wooden building, struck at Anna before she focused on leading the way up the stairs to Mary's room. There they laid her gently on the bed.

"What do we do now?" John whispered at Anna as she perched on the edge of Mary's bed, running her fingers through the girl's hair. "We can't have her telling they about you or anything else that happened."

"We'll have to find the boy." Anna turned to John. "Find him so I can alter his memories. We need to make sure he doesn't tell anyone about me either."

John nodded and with a flick of Anna's hand she changed him back to a bird. He flew through the open window and Anna focused on Mary again. One last stroke of her fingers through the girl's hair and a small curl of golden light bled into the girl's skin. Her face relaxed and her breathing deepened.

Anna stood and descended the stairs of the house. She took one last look around the bare interior before pushing out the door. The sensation of the house left her just as bare and she could hardly summon the energy to hurry at the sound of the fairies returning. Their voices light, carefree, and completely oblivious to the girl asleep after her brush with death in their house. Their charge… forgotten and neglected as if she mattered no more than the decorations they failed to add to their house.

Her hands closed back around her staff, fallen to the ground near the tree where she dropped it, and Anna crouched on the ground to run her hand over it. The wood glowed golden a moment before settling and she stood, her hand on the tree to help with the motion. A flick of memory, to the moment she shared with John there, had Anna taking a deep breath to force herself to focus as John's aw reached her ears. One spin of her hand formed the black tunnel to connect her between the two places and she faced the sobbing boy.

Tears streaked his cheeks, his clothes damp in patches where they stuck to his still-wet body, and the back of one hand bore the signs of the multiple brushes against the underside of his weeping nose. Anna flicked her eyes to John, perched in the tree above her and he croaked once before Anna crouched before the boy. He cried out at the sight of Anna but her hand held the side of his face and she pressed her thumb into the center of his forehead.

"You never saw me. You left your house today, escaping whatever chores you had, and went for a swim in the river. You enjoyed yourself but tripped on the way home. You thought you hurt yourself rather badly and cried a bit but you're alright." Anna paused, licking over her lips before swallowing. "You wanted to invite the neighbor girl, the one with dark hair, but she doesn't know how to swim and so she didn't want to come. You don't think you'll invite her to join you again."

She released his head and the boy swayed a moment before blinking at Anna. His eyes unfocused and his face scrunched as she stood. Taking a breath, she moved back into the trees and waited for John to land on her shoulder before watching the boy. His hands smoothed along the rock where he sat before standing. The wobble to his step only worried Anna a moment before he took to the path, whistling an off-key tune as he vanished into the trees.

John landed beside her and Anna helped him return to human form. "You didn't have to force him away from Mary like that."

"He almost got her killed." Anna shook her head. "It's for the best."

"She was fine."

"She was…" Anna stopped herself, knuckles white on her staff. "She wasn't."

"She's sleeping peacefully in her bed at this very moment."

"Because you put here there." Anna dropped onto a log, her staff clattering against it to fall with a softened thump onto the ground. "I couldn't save her. I watched her breathing weakly, breathing her last, and my magic refused to come. I couldn't… I couldn't save her and I had to watch her die."

"Anna," John knelt before her, taking her hands with his. "She's alright. She's alright because you saved her. I wasn't bringing her back and I was too tired to continue. You're the one who saved her at the end. You're the one she clung to."

"This isn't about jealousy, John." Anna shook her head, blinking at the tears that finally ran freely down her cheeks. "This is about losing her."

Her hands shook in his grip. "I can't bear the thought of losing her."

John said nothing, though his mouth opened as if to speak for a moment. He merely held Anna's hands as she cried. Cried until she finally blinked away her tears to see John before her. See the man kneeling in the dirt as a comfort to her.

No natural force could have stopped her as she pulled him to her and brought their lips together. His reaction took a moment of comprehension before he surged forward toward her without another thought. They were nothing but two beings seeking a confirmation of life in a moment of terrible fear. A brush with Death that reminded them of the life before them.

His arms wrapped around her and Anna pressed herself into him, as if they could share the same skin. Their position shifted and she stood on her tiptoes to still reaching the wonderful depths of his mouth while his hands smoothed and caught in the still-damp fabric of her dress. None of it stopped the roving nature of his touches until Anna was sure the heat of her body would dry the dress in no time. Dry it and still leave her heated and wanting him.

A thump of her back against a tree had the stubs of her wingbones brushing against the moss on the tree, driving indentations into the bark through the cover as John echoed his earlier motions. Their bodies collided together, impacts muffled in skin and softness but jarring when bone struck bone in the attempt. Neither of them cared enough to do more than urge the other forward with gasps and moans when a hesitation suggested worry or concern.

Each touch had Anna vibrating and trembling. Part of her still twitched with the fear and worry and exhaustion of their adventure. Another part of her wanted to reaffirm that they drove Death back. That John drove Death back.

That John gave her the strength to drive Death back.

Anna pulled her lips from him, staring into John's eyes as the harshness of his breathing mimicked hers. They gazed at one another while her fingers caressed the lines of his face. His edges and planes more familiar to her now, perhaps more obvious to her now as they gave her comfort. Small twitches to their lips allowed them to smile before meeting again.

This time they were slower, more measured, and more than a fierce clash of teeth and breath. His fingers still explored her, as if it was the first time, and her hands roamed what parts of him she could reach. But even in the heightened state of awareness, Anna barely comprehended when he left them both naked. Left them both exposed to the world and one another. Exposed to nature and the forces that ebbed and flowed around them.

Their lips continued to meet, broken now by the groans and growls as they used tighter grips and fiercer holds on one another. But each movement stayed slow, concise, and deliberate. Every stroke of John's fingers against her, of her hand squeezing him, and finally of their joining walked the line of animalistic and restrained. To their climaxes they held to one another as if the earth would part beneath their feet but refused to heed the possibility of bruises and scratches they inevitably left on one another's skin.

Anna finally comprehended their breathing as her bare feet touched the ground again. Her senses dulled for a moment, lost in the aftermath of their shared ecstasy, but slowly returned with startling clarity. Each nerve on her body quivered and waited to feel the world more precisely around her until everything stabilized and she rediscovered her equilibrium in the world.

John offered her the staff and gathered their clothes. "It's best we not linger much longer here. Who knows if the boy will come back."

"Yes." Anna stopped John replacing his clothes. "Trust me."

He frowned but Anna formed the black tunnel to guide them through to her cliff in the Moors. She took her dress from him, hanging it from the tree to dry before helping him do the same with his clothing. The occasional flinches and jerks of his body had her smiling as she sat on the edge of the cliff and watched the sunset.

"You spent most of your life as a bird, devoid of all covers, and now you're nervous?"

"I had feathers then." John sat next to her, pulling his legs up as if they might protect his naked body from unseen attackers. "I feel exposed like this."

"It is… different." Anna spread her fingers in the grass, stroking through it to disturb the blades. "But it feels more free. More like how we all used to be before the world taught us shame."

"Are you shamed?"

Anna shrugged, "I look back at my life and I wish I lived it differently. Wish I'd been a different person because who I was, who I am… they're not the person my parents had in mind for me when I was young."

"We're never the people we're supposed to be." John's fingers brushed over one another, as he kept his arms latched around his drawn-up knees. "We're always short of the kind of life we should've lived and the people we should've been."

"But you knew it, then." Anna did not look at him, preferring the idea that she could burn herself blind in the sun to avoid facing him. "When I first cursed Mary, you knew I'd made a mistake and I was too blind and arrogant and angry to notice. To accept the truth I knew but refused to acknowledge."

"We've all done things we regret in anger."

"Have you?" Anna turned to him, blinking the burn in her eyes away. "Have you done anything you regret?"

"I regret that I haven't been the kind of love you needed." John finally let his hands fall away, taking one to stroke over the skin of her cheek. "I've made a mess of our romance."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Sporadic kisses and touches over eleven years is… It's not what you needed, I don't think."

Anna sighed, a small shake to her head. "I don't know if I know what I need."

"You wanted to learn everything I'd learned from watching men at their mating habits once." John risked a smile and Anna laughed a bit. "But I don't think that's what you really mean."

"No, I don't think so either." Anna caught his hand, pushing his fingers to splay so she could trace each until they twitched at the tickle. "But we did have a time of trying to find pleasure in the flesh we share."

"Is it not more than that?" John twisted his hand in her grip to interlace their fingers and bring her eyes to his. "Are we not more than an exchange of bodily feeling and shared sensations?"

"I want to be." Anna breathed, edging toward him as their bodies worked closer to each other. "I want to be more with you. You make me more."

John bent his head to place his lips on hers again. His free hand, the one not keeping a tight grip between them, pressed on her shoulder to lay her back on the bed of soft grass that welcomed her as it did the first time they shared it. Her legs separated for John to slot his body between them but he did not join them. He took the space offered but did not press any advantage but his adoration of her mouth.

Anna writhed against him, holding herself closer as her unoccupied arm wrapped around his shoulders. Their tongues batted and tangled together while John stretched their joined hands above Anna's head to lengthen her body so his could cover hers. His weight pressed into her but she relished the sensation of their hearts beating against one another in a rhythm that only sped up with each moment they prolonged their kiss.

His fingers unlatched from hers, leaving her grasping at air, and John disengaged from the kiss. She tried to stop him, to use her hand at the back of his neck to bring his lips back to hers, but John only hurried a line of nips to her jaw and neck. The destination of his adoration brought Anna's hand to the back of his head where her nails dug into the skin of his scalp at the brush of his tongue over her nipple. And when he sucked it into his mouth while his hand kneaded her other breast, Anna arched her back to offer more of herself to his attentions.

They slid and shuffled through the grass, their sounds so different from the mating of animals and yet just as indicative of their actions and attentions. Each and every motion they made brought pleasure or sought it until Anna could no more comprehend the earth from the sky. She tightened her hold to John and almost whined when he released her breasts.

Kisses dotted her abdomen and ran down the curve of her hips to press just above the nerves he helped her discover. The illusion of his fingers and hands sculpting and smoothing over her legs was lost in the quiver of sensations brought on by John's persistently light kisses at her clit. Anna's hand attempted to guide him closer, deeper, to force him to accept the lift of her hips but he remained dogged in his taunting of her release.

Each stroke of his tongue brought her closer to the edge that all at once seemed so close and yet far away. Anna's body brought her hips up, twisted them around his hold and toward his tongue, as if that might bring her to the edge. But no amount of motion could rush John's work. Work that left her heaving for breath and huffing from simultaneous pleasure and frustration.

It was not like their tryst at the tree. There was no affirmation of life while staring Death in the face. There was no need to bury emotions or seek release from the weight of truth. This was simply for the pleasure of knowing another person more intimately than they knew anyone before. And John determined that with each exploratory lap of his tongue through, over, around, and along her folds until Anna's body rolled with a gentle climax.

There were no dots of color on the edges of her vision and no explosion of emotion, just the sated expression of a body released. But it left her unprepared for John's renewed assault. Left her unprepared for the determined crook and stroke of his fingers at her center and again, when they entered her, the motions that found those places where her body shivered and shuddered in his grip. His tongue never ceased, the sounds of him working over her almost as obscenely pleasurable as the actions themselves. And, finally, her body-rocking orgasm when he sucked hard and determinedly at her nerves.

Anna had barely a moment to comprehend it when John entered her. Their bodies, as close as two people could be without sharing the same skin, sank into one another. John's hands at her thigh and ass manipulated her leg higher so he could strike her deeper. Her lift and twist of her body, so ineffective before, proved enough to force John to strike and rub and grind against those places that sent Anna higher and higher into the sky. If, she decided, she could never fly again then this was as close to that ecstasy as she would ever be.

And she had no problems with the clarity that realization brought her.

John's kisses returned to her breasts and her lips, bringing her back to the moment. She succumbed to them, holding him close with her hand pressing at the small of his back and clinging to his side. Her legs tightened and her ankles crossed behind his ass to bring him deeper and steady them both. And she brought out the most gloriously strangled sound from the back of his throat when her hand slipped from his back to his ass.

One of his hands snaked between them, teasing her swollen and overly-loved nub of nerves until Anna writhed and quivered in his hold. They rocked and shunted together to seek the high that Anna found first. Her cry and released triggered John's and he stuttered and pumped into her a few final times before collapsing atop her.

A shuffle and shimmy landed them on their sides, still intertwined. Their fingers slid and smoothed over one another as their bodies calmed and Anna watched John succumb to the enticing pull of sleep. The relaxation on his face, the negligence of his earlier desire for cover as he slept completely exposed to the world, gave Anna a little smile. Her fingers played a moment in his hair before she pushed herself to stand.

She placed a kiss on his forehead, a fluttering wisp of golden magic bleeding into his skin to deepen his breathing, and retrieved her dress. It fit her oddly, still runched and damp in places, but Anna smoothed it as much as she could before retrieving her staff. With a frim grip on it, she stepped into the black tunnel to put herself in Mary's room.

Darkness held in the corners, the blue-purple of night eased about them as Mary slept peacefully in her bed. Anna watched her a moment, thinking back to the moment she thought she would never see her chest rise again, and swallowed a sob. A few tears trickled their way down her cheeks, escaping the brush of the back of her hand before she could stop them. They dotted her still-wet dress but Anna ignored them and stepped to the side of Mary's bed.

Her spread her arms, staff clutched tightly in her right hand, and whispered to the night. "I revoke the curse. I take it back and into myself."

Golden light seeped from her hands but could not reach Mary. Anna frowned and swallowed, shaking her head as if to clear the confusion through mechanical motion. "I revoke the curse I laid on this child. I take it into myself. I satisfy its demands myself."

Again the golden light from her body could not reach Mary. This time Anna noted an almost imperceptible shield of green that wafted and flowed around Mary. She reached a finger forward to prick at the green fog but it allowed her finger through. When she tried to do the same with her finger glowing ever so slightly gold, the green shield seized and snapped at her finger.

Anna stepped back, breathing a bit harder at the sight before stiffening her shoulders and setting her posture. This time the butt of her staff hit the ground and she spoke without hesitation and with all the authority she had. "I command the curse to release its prisoner. I revoke it and take it into myself. I satisfy its demands. I revoke the curse on this child. I release it and take it to myself. I revoke my curse."

The louder her voice got the more the gold fought the green. It was almost like watching two serpents battle for territory as the lights bit and snapped at one another, hissing and spitting in the growing disturbance of temporal forces until they collapsed. Anna barely held her position, both hands gripping tightly to her staff to keep her balance, and watched the colors dissipate.

As she gathered her breath she could hear, almost as if a voice whispered it from the shadows, "This curse will last until the end of time and no power on earth can change it."

She collapsed to the floor and wept.


	11. Love for Men

Anna watched John wake and smile at him as he blinked in confusion. "You're freed from many cares when you're asleep."

"What?" He blinked at her again and Anna nodded at his nude form. John's speed at sitting up and searching for something to cover himself made her laugh. "It's not funny."

"It is, a bit." She shook her head, "There's no need to worry. The only person to see you here is me."

"And anything else that flew by."

Anna grinned and slid onto the ground, crawling toward him. "You mean you're afraid that a bird might be watching?"

"Maybe."

"Afraid they'll learn from us what you learned from others?" Anna stroked a finger down John's chest and he shivered. "Afraid to share what you learned?"

"I only want to share it with you." He grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm before biting at the skin there. "If you want me to."

Anna leaned over him, "I'd be a fool to refuse you."

"Well," His fingers only intertwined with hers, not moving them one way or the other. "I'd like to see you take the lead. To tell me what you want."

"I want you." Anna frowned, "Am I supposed to want more than that?"

"No." John leaned up just enough to kiss her knuckles. "But I worry that I push you. That perhaps you don't want me the way I want you."

"How could you think that?" Anna released his hands, pressing on his abdomen instead to situated herself on his thighs. "I've never wanted anything as much as I want you."

"Not even your revenge?"

Anna bit the inside of her cheek before crossing her arms over her body to pull her dress over her head. "Nothing."

John tried to sit up but Anna put a hand on his shoulder, keeping his back on the ground. "I want nothing as much as I want you."

"Then why'd you leave?" Anna stopped, noting the shadow in John's eyes. "In the night, you left."

"I tried to set something right." Anna forced a smile, "Something I thought I could solve but I couldn't."

"What was it?"

Anna shook her head. "Not now." John tried to speak again but she put a finger over his lips. "Not now, please. I can't… I want to think of good things right now. Please let me… Let me think of good things."

John nodded and kissed Anna's finger. "What good things."

"Anything's good when you're here." Anna removed her finger, curving her hand around the back of his head and draping herself over his body to kiss him.

John's hands held at her head, cupping around the line of her jaw and meshing in her hair to stroke through her tresses and manipulate through her locks to find a hold to support the kiss. A kiss Anna quickly wove into her control when she tipped her head sideways to take more of his mouth with a slant. But John knew the game slightly better than she did and used his tongue to take control again, sucking deeply on her before mapping the interior of her mouth with his touch.

She tried to return the gesture, sucking deeply as if to steal his taste and breath and soul in the same motion. But no matter what she did in the kiss, John kept her on her toes and at the edge of a pleasure she wanted to chase with abandon. A pleasure, Anna was sure, John determined would taste sweeter if gained after great struggle.

So she broke the kiss. John blinked at her, the swell to his lips leading her to trace the redness with a finger. A tingle of gold leaked from her finger and Anna pressed her lips to his cheek so he could not see the hint of a tear in her eye. Tears she blinked away as she continued to leave the trail of her lips down his body.

In the few times, over the years they worked together, he took his time to adore her. To show her what a lifetime of watching humanity at their more sensual games had taught him. But Anna knew a few things that she wanted John to know as well. A few things she learned through his experience.

The first was that their bodies held similar places for pleasure. Flicking her tongue at his nipples or caressing her hands over him left him as delirious and desirous as it left her. Using her teeth to graze or tug at his skin had him shuddering and quivering under her. And using her hands at his arousal brought the sounds from his throat that he usually tore from her.

But there were so many differences as well. The swell of his chest expanded further than hers did and his sounds were deeper. And she could not get inside him, the way he could her, to drive him mad. But as her hand learned the shape and size of his arousal, Anna wondered if the soft skin that contained him would respond to similar actions.

She slid down his legs, bringing her kisses down his chest, and stroked him gently with her hand. Each movement had him twitching and shunting against her while his knuckles whitened their grip in the grass. Anna rounded the base of him with her kisses, taking them over his hips as if to leave traces of herself over his skin, before risking one on him.

John jerked and Anna almost froze but their eyes met. The darkness there, not the shadow of confusion from before but the expression he so often showered on her, had Anna continuing her map of kisses. They rounded him, wrapped him, and eventually covered him until the only place she had yet to kiss was his tip.

There she let her tongue dart out to investigate the hood of skin and the slit that gave her a salty taste of him. A taste she tried to find more of before realizing she needed a better way. A way, she realized with a mischievous grin, that would mimic what her body did when he brought them together. Placing her lips around him, Anna sucked gently at him.

If John's body had jerked before, he almost bent in half at the force of his reaction. Anna paused, waiting for the swift rise and fall of his chest to subside, and then continued to suckle at him. She copied the motions she'd learned from him adoring her breasts, or sucking at the nerves between her legs, or kissing her deeply enough to almost swallow her soul. Those were what she tried to use when John lay under her. The motions and actions that she needed to prove the depth of her affection for him… And her curiosity about him.

Because they were so different and yet so similar. Their pleasure rose and fell differently, she so often succumbing to the weight of his adoration before he could fall under her spell. But the gold on her fingers traced his skin, wrapping around him as if trying to settle on his skin to bind them together. Anna watched it, fascinated as she licked a stripe up the underside of his pulsing skin, and wondered for a moment what it might mean.

She knew her people considered this their place. This tree was her home, had been the home and sacred space for her people for generations. But what did it mean that she brought an outsider here, sought to find their mating pleasure here, and that the gold light of her magic was stronger with him here? With no one to tell her all Anna could do was hope, with that distant part of herself that still believed in those kinds of things.

Her focus distorted when John's hands moved to her arms, urging her up. She let her tongue take a last lick up the length of him before following his lead. A lead that placed her at his abdomen so his erect arousal rubbed against where Anna wept wetness over him.

"Please take me now." John pleaded, the cords in his neck straining as Anna dug her knees into the earth to rise above him. "I can't bear it."

Anna sank down slowly, her body adjusting with each motion, and spread her legs in the grass until their hips met. The vibrations of his tight breathing sent ripples through her and Anna focused on trying to mimic the cling and hold he enticed from her so naturally. A motion that had John's eyes rolling into the back of his head and his hands clutching hard to her hips. She did it again and John's eyes opened to meet hers.

Before Anna could do it again he sat up, holding her as close to him as he possibly could, and put his lips to her ear. The growl in his voice sent a shiver through her that tightened her muscles around him even further. "Where'd you learn that?"

"From you." Anna raked her nails over his shoulders, sliding forward to hold even closer to him as they ground against one another. "I thought what worked for the duck would work for the drake."

"It won't work for them." John nipped at her ear before kissing down her neck. "But you were right. It was wonderful."

"Yes." Anna's nails carved little furrows in his skin.

"But Anna," John's motions paused and she turned her head enough to see her eyes. "I want you to feel wonderful now."

He did not flip them, as she expected, but instead lay back down to better his angle. John's legs bent behind him and Anna leaned back onto them to stretch herself over him. Each motion now, every thrust and grind, struck her nerves until Anna's nails clawed over his chest.

The golden light from her fingers increased, wrapping them both in a cocoon of light, and when Anna fell over the edge she watched the echoes of the light disperse with a shock wave. It left her drained and she slumped forward over John. He held her to him, moving much more slowly now, but Anna gyrated just enough to bring him over the edge as well.

An edge that struck differently than before.

Anna blinked, noting the haze of gold from her mixing with a sparkling silver. A silver Anna reached out to touch but it just swirled around her hand. She sat up, trying to comprehend the origin of the mist, and then looked down to see John glowing with it.

"John?"

He frowned and tried to sit up but the silver sheen dispersed, taking the glow of gold from her with it. "What?"

"Did you…" Anna let her fingers curl in the air, as if to try and bring the sensation of those colors joining back to her memory, but they vanished as if they were nothing but a shadow at the corner of her eye. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"That silver color. The one that sparkled like the night."

John shook his head, "Maybe it was yours?"

Anna shook her head. "Mine is gold. Always has been. Like the fruit my parents ate before they made me."

"What?"

Anna stood up, sighing at the stretch in her muscles and pointed to the tree over them. "Man has a story about how the first of their kind ate fruit from a tree and were cast from a special garden. My people had a similar legend but instead of leaving the garden they were welcomed into it."

"The Moors?"

Anna nodded, "At the dawn of our peoples time, some of them chose the responsibility of protecting the world, cultivating it like a garden, and they were given the Moors. To seal the pact they made they ate the fruit of this tree and became fairykind."

"But no other fairies eat fruit from this tree." John stood as well, risking a hand to touch the tree. "And, as far as I can tell, you've never eaten fruit from this tree either."

"The tree's not bloomed or flowered since before I was born." Anna sighed, "My parents used to whisper that it was because hate seeped into our kind and poisoned the tree. It wouldn't let us live forever with hate in our hearts."

"Do you believe that?"

Anna shrugged, "I don't know. I do know that my people, given they had more power, were charged with protecting the Moors. Charged with defending these first gardens and the fruit of this tree."

"Makes you sound more like angels than fairies."

"We're missing flaming swords." Anna held her arms around herself, pacing around the base of the sprawling tree. "But there was another story, one that said the tree was poisoned by something else."

"What?"

"A human taking the fruit that didn't belong to them." Anna ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. "When they did, without giving back to the tree, it began to die. My people had fewer and fewer children while more and more of them died in the defense of the Moors. We did not have the numbers to replace those we lost."

"And now you're the last?"

Anna nodded, turning to John. "Even if I did have my wings, the power to procreate again, I couldn't save my people from extinction. Especially not now that I'm the last of my kind."

"I asked you once," John stepped toward her, "If you could've saved your people had you joined with a human, and you said no. Why?"

"Because they've not got the magic required." Anna turned back to the tree, putting her hand on the trunk. "To take from the tree is a promise to give back to it. It's why my people protected the Moors. The power we gained came from the fruit. I was the last fruit eaten by the tree and so I'm as much it's child as I am the child of my parents. I'm the last seed it sprouted, the last flower it bloomed, and the last fruit it bore."

Her fingers curled into the trunk, detecting the voice of the tree through its bark. "I'm the last."

"What if there was another?" John's chest pressed against her back and Anna took a deep breath, closing her eyes to revel in the feel of him wrapped around her. "What if the tree wanted to give another fruit?"

"You'd need magic." Anna shook her head, tilting just enough to see his face over her shoulder and run a hand along her cheek. "And there aren't any with the magic that I have... Or, had."

"I told you once," John's hands smoothed over her skin, holding to her as he kissed softly over her shoulders. "That there's magic in this."

"It's different." Anna tried to argue but one of John's hands kneaded at her breast, holding her closer to him as his other hand slipped between her legs to run along the seam of her folds to slick himself in the wetness there. "It's a gift, not… Not like this."

"Is this not a gift?" His whisper ran over her skin, sending her hairs standing on end as his slow assault continued. "Are we not giving to one another?"

"I don't…"

"Perhaps," John nipped toward her chin, leaving a line of buzzing stings up the column of her neck while his fingers finally entered her. "Your parents didn't have the chance to explain it all to you and the tree was reticent."

"The trees don't speak to me about such things."

"I don't doubt it." John growled near her ear, almost chuckling at the quiver in her body as his hand moved between her breasts. "I'd not want to tell anyone else about our intimacy."

"It's… It's not the same." Anna's legs spread as her feet slipped in the grass to give John more access to her. "If it was to save my species-"

"I'm sure, when the time is right," John's hand at her breast took one of her hands and spread it on the tree, his fingers landing between hers and the weight of his hand pressed her palm into the bark, "The tree'll tell you how to save it and yourself. It won't be silent forever."

Anna's fingers trembled against the tree, only in part because of John's continued motions and the weight of arousal sitting in the crease of her ass. "What if it doesn't want to tell me? What if… What if I've gone too far and can't come back?"

"You're never too far Anna." John kissed her cheek and nudged her head enough to bring their lips together. "Just ask the tree."

Anna did not ask the tree anything. Her hand dug into the bark, a flare of gold bright even with her eyes closed to enjoy the kiss she shared with John, and she pushed her hips into his hand. His thumb pressed and rubbed at those nerves he knew so well by now and she broke.

But John swallowed her cry in their kiss and continued to work his fingers in her. Continued until he broke the kiss in an instant. Anna's eyes widened, noting a flare of silver in his eyes before he dropped from view. Dropped to put his mouth on her as she did earlier.

Her fingers almost ripped at the bark, holding herself steady as John's tongue and fingers proved more than adequate at their job. Each stroke of his tongue along her, through her, and into her had Anna crying out and sent more golden tendrils leaking from her hand and into the tree. For a moment she blinked as she thought she noted the tree's trunk straightening slightly, the bends and knots in the wood growing and strengthening but a moment later she eyes shut as John's lips closed around her clit and sucked hard.

She broke again, her legs buckling, but John caught her. His hands joined hers on the trunk and held there as he thrust forward. The position tightened him inside like never before and the two of them groaned in unison, the vibration of his sound rumbling into her skin as his chest rested against her back. John's forehead pressed against her shoulders and his hips barely shunted forward but it was enough.

Enough to have her body quivering and trembling under him. Enough for her to fantasize that she heard singing from the tree. Enough for John to move his hands to her body so he could set a punishing pace for them. Enough for the piston of his hips to snap their bodies together with slick slaps of skin on skin. Enough for his hands to find her breasts, her clit, and her hips. Enough for them to come in a shower of bright color that temporarily blinded Anna.

They sagged against the tree, the dig of the bark there a reminder of their position. Anna shifted and John slipped of her hold to sit back on the grass. She dropped to her knees to join him, her head hitting the ground amongst the tree roots so she stared up at the branches. Branches that bore leaves thicker, greener, and larger than before.

Pushing herself to sit up, Anna narrowed her eyes at the leaves. She twisted, putting her hand to the tree trunk, and listened. But, as always, the tree was quiet and there was nothing she could do to bring the voice from it.

Sitting back and pushing a hand through her hair, she turned to John. "That was different."

"I've…" John's cheeks reddened slightly. "There was a farm hand and a milk maid who did it like that. It kept his britches up and her skirts high."

"Convenience." Anna smiled at him, "What a thought."

"Did you not like it?"

Anna kissed the worry from John's face. "I liked it very much. Don't worry yourself over that."

"But you-"

"We're creatures of the earth, John. I've not much worry about the convenience of clothing I only wear for function anyway." Anna brought up her knees, looking out on the waking Moors. "And thank you."

"For?"

"You've not pressed about the problem I couldn't solve and…" Anna took a breath, meeting John's eyes. "Thank you."

"Could you solve it now?"

Anna shook her head, "No."

"Ever?"

"I don't think so." Anna blinked at the tears coming to her eyes again. "I tried to revoke my curse from Mary."

"What?" John sat up in a hurry but Anna waved him down before wiping at the tears from her eyes. "And did you-"

"I tried. I tried all the power I could muster and all I heard, when I expended my energy, was my own voice taunting me with the words I spit out so carelessly all those years ago." Anna gave a bitter snort, " _This curse shall last until the end of time and no power on earth can change it._ "

"Not even your power?"

"I played with forces I didn't understand and, in my anger and arrogance, I thought I could control them." Anna wiped at her eyes. "I can't take it back. I can't take it into myself. I can't reverse it or change it. The balance of nature must be met and that means the balance in my curse demands the price I promised. The power must be paid with the promised sacrifice."

"Mary's death?"

"Mary's eternal sleep." Anna sighed, "It would've been kinder to kill her with it, as I originally planned. It wouldn't leave her in torment for the rest of her life and all those trying to save her locked in an impossible, eternal struggle."

"Why didn't you?"

Anna laughed, the noise grating and bitter in her mouth. "Because I wanted to punish her father. I wanted him to suffer for what he'd done to me and I thought the best way would be to take his daughter far enough away from him that he couldn't reach her and yet close enough he'd have to see the result of his actions." Her fingers curled in the grass. "I only ended up dooming myself."

"You can't drink poison and expect the other person to die."

Anna nodded, "I know."

"But you'll find a way."

"I don't think I can." Anna went to stand but John's hand landed on hers.

"You will Anna. I know you doubt it but you will."

She shook her head, "I can't."

"You've already tried." John stood, cupping her face with his hands. "You tried to take it back. That means something."

"Not to the balance of nature."

"It means something to me." John's thumbs brushed over her cheekbones before pushing back into her hair. "And you mean more to me than I can ever begin to explain or express."

"Do I?" Anna let a few tears slide down her cheeks, sighing as John kissed them away. "I shouldn't. You shouldn't love me like you do."

"Because you've made mistakes?" His lips delicately followed the contours of her face, leaving no more impression than the tickle of butterfly wings.

"Because I cursed a child. Because I sought revenge on the innocent. Because I tried to drive you away."

"No," John paused, his lips over hers. "Those are what you've done, not who you are. Not to me."

"Who am I to you?"

"My mate, forever and always." John kissed her, pulling deeply before releasing to speak again. "For good and proper."

Anna clutched at him, holding his lips to hers as John backed her toward the tree again. Her back hit it, grinding the bark into her skin but Anna did not care. She wanted another fierce and ragged joining like they had yesterday, in the woods. Another affirmation of life.

But John pulled her to him and landed on the grass. They scrambled from the jumble for a moment to resituating themselves and John helped Anna run herself along his length. Their mutual moans echoed and rebounded from their position but neither one of them cared who or even what might hear them. Or see them as they rocked and rubbed against one another.

His hands urged her up and Anna sheathed herself on him, reveling in the return of the scorching sensation of his pulsing position inside her. Their bodies ground and slipped against one another as John held her close. This time he did not lie back but held her to him as if afraid she might somehow leave him.

But how could see. How could she leave him when he left her bare and exposed, in more than just body? How could see leave him when the trickles of silver wafted from his skin and mixed with the gold from her own? How could she leave him when she was nothing without him at her side? How could see leave him when he filled her with light in a world that had been dark for so long?

Nothing else mattered but him in that moment. Nothing would ever matter again. He was all she needed. The sounds they made together, the beat of their blood, and the shimmer of their shared essence as it joined and swirled around them. This was what mattered.

They lay together afterward, wound around one another as his fingers stroked through her hair and her fingers brushed at his skin. The sun rose higher in the sky and fell again but they did not move. Anna traced his face and John just watched her.

"I love you." He whispered and Anna only stared back at him. "I'd love you however, whatever, whenever."

"Me too." Anna scooted closer to him, finding herself whole in his hold. "I love you too, John."

He just kissed the top of her head and said nothing more. And they fell asleep like that, wrapped in one another, oblivious to the world and its worries. Leaving it all behind for one another.

They were all that mattered.


	12. Deceits of Men

She smiled, her eyes still closed, as he came up behind her. "I'm enjoying the sun and I'd rather not be disturbed."

"Who said I'd disturb you?"

Anna cracked an eyelid to see John as he sat next to her in the little clearing. "You're not here to just enjoy the afternoon, I know that much."

"And why not?"

"Because you've got that little smirk you always get when you're planning something devious." Anna traced it on his lips, noting the way his pupils dilated. "I recognize the signs of arousal on you."

"And I in you."

"Then you've confused yourself since I'm not aroused."

"No?"

"No, I am perfectly content." Anna pushed back, biting down on her smile to play the game he initiated. "I could sit here undisturbed forever and not be bothered or disturbed in the least."

"Perfectly content?"

Anna met his gaze, holding her face as blank as she could. "Perfectly."

"And if I sought to disturb your… Contemplation?"

"I might wonder what you've planned to recompense me the lost serenity of the moment." Anna closed her eyes, basking in the feel of the sun. "And if it would be worth the interruption."

"I could make it worth the interruption."

Anna heaved a dramatic sigh, enjoying the little glint of a giggle in John's eyes. "And what kind of interruption so you offer me?"

"Something I learned while watching Mankind."

It took everything in her to suppress the shiver his suggestion evoked. "You've learned an awful lot from Mankind."

"By design." John edged closer to her, his fingers running over her hand before plucking it from its perch in her lap to stroke her digits. "But I've recently discovered that those without partners will sometimes… Seek pleasure in other ways. Ways they work out for themselves."

Anna frowned, "What does that mean?"

"If they can't find a partner they simply care for their needs… themselves." John shuffled in place, the roll of his shoulders reminding Anna of the little twitches to his form when he sat as a crow.

"And you've seen this?" John nodded and Anna sat back, watching dappling sunlight flex and glitter over the emptiness of the clearing. "How strange."

"What?"

"Animals and humans are so similar and yet so different." Anna turned to John, "In flocks of fairies, many will see the act of reproduction. It happens every spring and it's the source of all life. Humans are some of the only creatures to seek it out for pleasure and to seek it for themselves."

"Does your kind not…" John stopped, "I'm sorry."

"It's an honest question."

"And I should already know the answer."

Anna shrugged a shoulder, "My parents were… discreet, in their affinity for one another. And if they happened to seek out one another for pleasure and not just reproduction then I never knew about it." The fingers of the hand not in John's grip ran over her knee, smoothing the material of her dress there. "Then again, when they died I was so young. I don't know if I would've even recognized it had I seen it."

"No?"

"I didn't recognize biological reproduction until I came of age. Then I realized what it was and… I thought it was functional." Anna maneuvered her hand in his to tease the skin of his palm. "I didn't realize it was fashionable as well."

"Then you would not mind if I showed you the fashion of self-pleasure?"

"I get the feeling it's quite simple." Anna's free hand runched up her skirt so it draped toward her waist and left her legs exposed while her other hand continued to play with John's. "I simply mimic the motions you would use to bring me out of myself and I imagine it's you. Is that right?"

Her legs spread and she watched John's pupils widened at the descent of her free hand over her thigh. The force of his swallow almost broke the quiet of the clearing only disturbed by the occasional cry of a bird. But neither of them took notice as Anna leaned back into the arms of the tree roots around her so her back supported against the trunk. Skin slipped over skin until Anna dragged a finger just above the nerves John teased so often.

"When you watched," Anna bit the inside of her cheek when John's hand tightened on hers. "Did you imagine me?"

"Yes."

"Did you imagine teaching me and hoping I'd enjoy it?"

"Yes."

"Then I believe you forgot something." Anna's fingers paused their taunting strokes just short of where the early signs of damp dripped onto her fingers.

"What?" The thickness of John's voice had Anna forcing air into her lungs. "What did I forget?"

"That maybe I'd want to see you too." Anna's fingers escaped his grasp and she pulled the ties of her dress apart to fully expose herself to him just as her fingers tempted to smooth between her folds. The soft cry she gave had John struggling to throw off the clothes he wore grudgingly.

When they piled haphazardly to the side, Anna smiled at the sight of John's fingers curled into the earth so hard his knuckles whitened. She did not say a word, simply brought one of her fingers to her mouth to suck it deeply before replacing it at her folds to slip between them. John's breathing caught and hitched to match hers when her neck arched back in time to the little cry of pleasure she released.

The slick sucking sounds matched the easy glide of sensation at the touch of her fingers inside her walls. Anna practiced and altered strokes until she found those places John always discovered with ease. But when she added another finger, forcing her eyes to open and look at him, Anna could not stop the smile that lazed over her mouth at the sight of John's hand wrapped firmly over his arousal.

"Will you show me?" Her voice was barely a whisper but John heard enough to nod and Anna almost distracted herself watching John's hand firm and stroke. The squeeze of his grip reminded her of similar attempts she made but the proportions matched far better with his own hand. And yet, her fingers seeking to do to herself what she watched his hand do rang almost hollow.

Even as it was her own body she could not reach deep enough. The callouses on her fingers rasped differently against the internal walls she left fluttering but not clenching. She could not encourage the rise in herself the way he could, even with dedicated presses of her thumb to the nerves he kissed and sucked when given the chance to tease noises from her that rang through the Moors. Without his touch, it was hollow and even the sight of him before her did little to encourage the reaction she so desperately craved.

The sight of him, face reddening and holding tightly to himself between taunting slides, had Anna's fingers moving faster. But they were nothing and she dragged them away. It took John by surprise when she made three moves to close the distance between them and latched her hand over his wrist. He followed her motions and released himself to leave the reddening thickness between his legs open to Anna's appreciative view.

Pushing him back just enough, Anna slid her legs around his and adjusted to sheath him in a second. They rocked together, trying to find a more comfortable position, and Anna tipped herself toward his bent knees to create the angle she desired. It left a shine on his abdomen as the shameless rub of herself against him betrayed her desire as a glistening shine. But when she went to wipe it from him, John caught her fingers. Fingers still damp from her earlier foray.

He sucked them into his mouth, letting his tongue clean the taste from her, and only released when Anna ground closer to him so he pressed deeper. Wrapping her knees closer to his hips, trying to lock her ankles around his back, Anna rocked and shifted until they could get no closer. John's hands smoothed over her back, fingers brushing gently over her wingbones, and Anna flinched.

They both froze but Anna's hands framed John's face and she put her lips to his in an attempt to calm them both. The kiss started slowly, with the hesitancy of nerves preventing them fully engaging for a moment, but when John's hand occupied the space between her wingbones and pulled her closer while his other hand wrapped the back of her neck to contort their mouths to slant against one another, the kiss deepened. Deepened so Anna detected the barest hint of herself there and sought to chase it from him.

Their bodies moved together and worked like a steady machine, pistoning with Anna's feet flat on the ground to provide her the leverage to move while John's hands continued to smooth over her available skin. Her back bore the warm tingling sensations of his touch before he settled for a more secure grip on her ass. A grip Anna pressed into as she bobbed up and down to find the angle that would leave her crying out under John's attentions.

It was enough. Enough to have him close enough for her nails to rake over his shoulders. Enough that they wrapped around one another as closely as they could possibly manage. And enough when John's thumb brushed over her clit to trigger the inevitably tightening of Anna's walls around him.

She almost cried with relief when he finally helped her fall over the edge. Helped her find the place she sought so desperately on her own. And then led her to the oasis of pleasure they always found together. A place Anna wanted to share with John. So she surged forward to take his mouth with her kisses to drag him behind her…. But she need not have worried.

It took John no time at all to join her. He broke the kiss, his arms almost crushing her to him as he thrust through the final moments of his climax. Anna clung back as her cries echoed around the clearing with their finish.

Her fingers dragged over his skin, kissing at the marks she left and leaving liberal caresses over his shoulders as she drew back. The material of her dress, practically forgotten in their moments of passion, now whispered and rasped against their sensitive skin until Anna cast it aside to join John's clothing. With a gentle swish of material it landed to leave them as natural as the world around them and almost as carefree.

Anna's finger traced over John's jaw as he leaned forward to place gentle kisses on her neck. "Do you wonder if it was like this?"

"Like what?"

"Before beings wore clothing." Anna smiled at John as he pulled back to look at her, his fingers still trying to tangle and weave into the hair he could reach on her back. "I mentioned, once, about shame, and I wondered if it felt that free before."

"I didn't wear clothing as a bird and I felt free."

"But you were a bird." Anna tapped the end of his nose. "I… I just wonder if my people, when there were people to be seen, ever flew the skies as naturally as you do. With their skin brushing against the clouds the way your wings do."

"Perhaps they did." John let his hands fall to her sides, fingers still following a path of minute sensation that almost had Anna believing he ceased touching her. "Don't your people have records like those the humans keep?"

"If they do then I never saw them." Anna bit her lip, chewing on it. "I didn't learn to read until Green taught me. And I don't know if my kind wrote the way the humans do. So even if there were records, I might not be able to read them."

"Perhaps it's better then." John shrugged, "My people have no records. I wouldn't even say we've a language."

"Beasts of burden." Anna teased and squealed when John's fingers exploited a ticklish spot on her side.

"As long as I'm the only beast of burden you need." He chided and kissed under her chin. Before he could reach for another place Anna pushed up, removing herself from his lap and moving toward her clothes. "What?"

"I'm sure you know we can't spend all day here." Anna motioned to the clearing around them and began replacing her dress, tying it securely about herself. "Anyone could walk by and Mary'll wonder why we've not come to visit."

She went to move but John's hand shot out and wrapped around her stomach. It pulled her back to his chest and Anna's breath hissed when John's voice whispered in her ear. "I'm not finished yet."

"I'm sure you finished," Anna turned to him, testing a quick kiss on his lips. "I felt it and I can still feel it."

"Then let me explain," He shifted against her and Anna gave a gasp at the sensation of his heat pressing against her ass. "I'm still willing if you are."

"I would've thought I tired you out."

"Never." He kissed at her pulse before nipping there. "I want to watch you."

"Again?" Anna tried to giggle but only moaned as John sucked at the crux between her neck and collar. "You already did."

Her fingers dug into his hair, her arm bending to frame around his head as he continued his assault on her exposed skin. "I don't mean watching you and testing myself by trying to stop from replacing your fingers with my own."

"Then what?" Anna almost begged, her knees weakening as John shunted into her so her legs spread apart almost instinctually to allow him to run himself between her folds as he held the skirt of her dress to her waist.

"I want to be under you when you bring yourself over the edge. I want to force myself to not reach up and take you with my mouth as I watch your fingers do what I want my tongue to do." John paused, his lips back at her ear. "When I wait until you drip before I take you."

Anna turned in his arms, attacking his mouth so John stumbled back. They tumbled over, John's thrown out hand catching them before he hit the ground hard enough to knock his breath from his chest. The motion put John on his back and Anna's knees digging into his sides as she tried to steal more from the kiss.

But John's hands stroked down her sides to her thighs, keeping her skirt up at her waist so he could spread her legs. The motion had Anna sliding heavily onto John's chest and they both grunted for a moment before sharing a laugh. Any attempt to kiss the smile from the other's lips failed grandly as John slipped under Anna while pulling her over him. So far so that Anna threw out a hand to catch herself as John's lips left burning kisses over her inner thighs.

She righted herself with difficultly and struggled to remove her dress a second time, tossing it away to give herself an unencumbered view of John under her. He only grinned and teased kisses higher before taking one of her hands and pressing it to her clit. All it took was a nod for Anna to follow his suggestion and seek her own pleasure as he watched.

As hard as either of them tried, and Anna wondered if they tried hard enough at all, it took no time at all for John to join her. For him to help her to the edge. For him to use his fingers, mouth, and tongue to leave her sobbing for release above him until he helped her find her end. An end that put her back to the grass before she realized John had turned them.

He stretched above her, filling her in a second so she tightened instinctively around him. Her knees to his sides, her arms around his shoulders, and her body folding toward his to keep him close as he tried to move. But they could only shift as far as Anna allowed until John kissed her senseless. Kissed her until the lack of air dotted her vision and Anna had to release him. Release him to give her another release before finding it for himself.

They lay tangled together in the clearing as the light of the day faded. The sunlight tinkling away to leave them touching one another softly and sharing whispers of half-formed words and conversations they never seemed to finish. Never needed to finish. They only needed to be there together.

Anna saw it again, as they lay together. The sheen of silver that wafted over John's body. She almost reached out to touch it again but stopped herself, fingers curling toward her palm, to enjoy the way it shimmered on his skin. To watch the fragrant shimmer of sparks dance and shine over him. The same way, if she was honest with herself, the green of her curse sometimes glowed around Mary.

The memory of trying to remove the curse and its violent rejection of her attempt forced Anna to look away. Her eyes closed and John, without asking the reason, only tucked her closer to him. Closer to the sliver shine on his skin. A shine that sparked and dissipated when Anna attempted to touch.

Touch, she noticed, with her bare fingers. She blinked and slipped from John's hold to bring the golden light to her own hand. The marvel of its ease now, where once she struggled to produce a single spark, shuffled to the back of her mind as she reached her golden-encapsulated finger forward to touch at the silver, diaphanous shell coating John's form.

He frowned and tried to follow her actions but Anna continued slowly until her finger touched him. The spark that resonated back into her hand, tingling her skin and leaving her flexing the appendage, had them both gasping. John blinked and shuffled backward as if to escape his own skin before beating at the silvery sheen. It did not leave him and Anna could only stare at her finger where a wisp of gold and silver intertwined and mingled before snuffing out like a candle.

"What did you do?"

Anna looked up at him, the gold leaving her hand as the silver of his skin vanished in the darkening of dusk. "Nothing."

"I was…" John pointed at himself. "I glowed silver. I saw it that time."

"I touched it that time." Anna examined her hand again before smiling at him. "I think it means you've got magic."

"I can't have magic." John tapped his chest. "I'm a crow."

"Not to correct your self-identification," Anna stood, dipping only to grab her dress, "But I do believe you are, in fact, a raven."

"What?" John hurried to his feet, snatching at his clothes. "That's impossible. I've been a crow all my life."

"Raised by crows, yes, and convinced you were one by the mistress you served." Anna stopped, holding to a tree and blinking as visions swam before her eyes. She rubbed at them with the back of her hand before tying her dress securely to her. "I… I don't know why I said that?"

"Anna?" John came in front of her, the black staff she always carried in his hand and extended toward her. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know." She stumbled back and caught John's arm before sitting on a tree root. "I'm…"

Visions flashed before her eyes. Visions of two people, a man and a woman, standing on the edge of a cliff with their large wings behind them. Their eyes met over the distance and Anna almost fell back but John caught her. He wrapped an arm around her and helped her sit up, kneeling in front of her as his hands wrapped hers.

"Are you alright?"

"I… I don't know." Anna shook herself, holding tightly to John's arm. "I saw… I saw two people like me."

"Your parents?"

Anna shook her head, "They're different… Older. Much older."

"Older?"

"As in as old as the earth." Anna pushed herself to stand, gripping tightly to her staff. "Something about them… It felt old. Ancient, even. I've never felt anything that old and I've touched the oldest trees in the forest."

"Morrigan felt like that." John whispered and Anna turned to him, almost speaking, before his ears pricked. "What was that?"

Anna narrowed her eyes, frowning, and dragged her two fingers through the air to split the space before them. She and John pushed through the slit to cross the distance between the clearing and the wall of thorns that defended the Moors. A wall once again under attack by the machines of war Men used.

"I thought I warned them away." Anna grasped her staff with both hands and slammed its base into the ground.

The earth shook and the thorns cracked and twitched before unfurling themselves like tentacles. Waving a hand, Anna guided them to snap and lash out at the attackers, knocking some away while smashing at their weapons of war. But they continued with their axes and trebuchets to fling balls of flaming pitch. Pitch that hissed and spit on the ground before Anna cast heaps of earth over the threatening flames to stop their encroachment on the Moors.

She turned, moving with a flick of her fingers to send John into the sky as a raven, and noted someone on the edge of the battle. Wrapped in a cloak too big for her, Anna might have missed noticing her but the hint of green wafting from her form was all she needed. A snap of her fingers cast a section of the wall to move like a sweeping arm to knock the soldiers away from the girl as Anna whistled.

High pitched and piercing, the sound called the howls from the forest and within moments a pack of wolves howled louder and louder, coming toward the soldiers still sorting themselves as the thorns rose up again to beat again at their weapons. Anna took only a moment to confirm the frightful run of the soldiers away from the wall. A run that had her splitting the air to cross to the other side as the thorns settled into their place. The girl jumped in fright at the sight of Anna coming from thin air and covered her mouth to muffle the shriek.

Anna frowned and then followed her gaze to see the pack of wolves growling and slavering at them. She snapped her fingers, waving them off with a hint of gold to her motion and they howled once before running off into the trees to leave Anna alone with the girl. "I'm sure your aunts have told you to stay away from the Moors and this wall."

"They have."

"You're not a very good listener, are you?" Anna held her staff easily, noting the girl's height reaching almost as high as her head. "You've grown."

"And you've stayed to the shadows for a long time." The girl crossed her arms over her chest. "What's kept you busy?"

"I'm sure you're aware, Mary, that there are things that need my attention." Anna nodded toward her staff, "I've got to protect the Moors."

"You used to be around more often."

"You're growing up and you don't need me around."

"What if I want you around?"

Anna paused, "Why would you want that? You don't even know who I am."

Mary scoffed, "Of course I know who you are."

"Do you?" Anna snorted, "I very much doubt your aunts have told you about me and about what or who I am."

"They didn't have to tell me." Mary pointed at Anna, "You're my godmother."

"You're what?"

"Why else would you save me from drowning when I was ten?" Mary raised an eyebrow. "What, thought I wouldn't remember? Thought your little trick with Tommy Branson's mind would make it so he couldn't remember? I did. I remember you dive din after me and you saved my life. Why do it if you're not my godmother?"

"Maybe I wanted to do the right thing." Anna's fingers moved over the staff, her grip slackening slightly. "Isn't that a possibility?"

"Only if you wanted me to live and you…Care about me." Mary shuffled, "Do you, care about me?"

Anna bit the insides of her cheeks. "I think I do."

"Then you're my godmother… But one that's a fairy." Mary frowned, "Can you have those? Can you have a fairy godmother?"

"I…" Anna blinked and then frowned, "I don't know. I've never had a godmother, fairy or otherwise."

"Then I guess you'll have to be the first." Mary smiled and pointed at the wall of thorns. "Will you show me what's on the other side of that?"

"The purpose of them is to keep people out."

"But you're my fairy godmother," Mary insisted, smiling. "Surely you want to show me what's behind that wall."

Anna pursed her lips before snapping her fingers. The wall of thorns retracted and left an opening large enough for them to walk through. Allowing herself a small smile at Mary's wide open jaw, Anna pressed forward.

"Are you coming?"


	13. Sorrow on the Moors

The smile did not leave her face as she watched Mary gaped and wonder at the Moors. "All this is yours?"

"It belongs to all the fairies."

"My aunts call them the Fair Folk."

"We have many names." Anna motioned for Mary to follow her and started up the switchbacks to the cliff with her tree. "Those are just a few."

"So your wall of thorns," Mary skipped along behind her, jumping from one rock to the next along the path. "Is it because you all hate humans? Because my aunts said that the Fairy Queen that lives here hates humans."

Anna stopped and turned to face Mary, stopping the girl on one foot as she balanced on a rock. "Since you're here, what do you think?"

"Maybe you just hate some humans."

"We all have strong feelings about something." Anna pivoted back to the path, waving John off as he circled above them.

"What about your raven?"

Anna paused again, noting how Mary's head craned back so she could point at the speck of John visible in the blinking lights of the fairies of the Moors. "You saw the difference between him and a crow?"

"Of course." Mary ticked off on her fingers. "Crows have slimmer, straighter beaks and his is curved. His wings are wider and longer, he's bigger, and he doesn't caw. It's more of a croak, honestly, and since he doesn't fly with a murder then he's not much of a crow."

"That's true." Anna watched him, "He's a very loyal bird."

"He also soars." Mary pointed, "There's no constant flapping to his movements. He soars and does aerobatics."

"Something you learned pitching crab apples at him?"

"Maybe." Mary shrugged, "But ravens travel in pairs, usually. And since he travels only with you…"

"I'm the other half of his pair?" Anna shrugged, "I guess you could say that. But it's not always been that way."

"How'd you mean?"

"He used to serve Morrigan."

"But she's got crows, not ravens."

"We don't always know what we are." Anna continued up the cliff, leading Mary toward the tree. "Watch your step."

"You mean, if I fell, you wouldn't save me?" Mary taunted near the edge but stopped at Anna's expression. "You did it once."

"I'd like to not have to do it again." Anna studied Mary as the girl paced over the cliff, taking peeks at the distance below. "Is it what you expected?"

"Honestly?" Mary turned and shrugged, "I don't know what I expected."

"How interesting."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just that your aunts seemed convinced they knew something about the 'Fair Folk'." Anna sat on a root of the tree that hung over the edge of the cliff. "What did they tell you about the Moors beyond their presumption that there is a Fairy Queen who hates humans ruling over it?"

"They try not to talk about it really." Mary sat down on another root, kicking her feet for a moment. "I think they miss it."

Anna's eyebrow rose slightly. "Miss it?"

Mary nodded, "They've tried to hide it from me my entire life but I'm not stupid. Just like they tried to hide who my mother was or who all those people who came by asking about my health were, I figured it out." She shrugged, "They're fairies. Or Fair Folk. Or Fey or whatever they choose to call themselves."

"I believe, if I know your 'aunts' they're pixies." Anna gave a little smile. "Pixies are a breed of fairy known for being mischievous and impetuous. Part of their illusion is the chance to pretend at being human."

"Do they have wings?"

"When they're in their natural form." Anna held up a hand. "And they're only about this big when they are."

"They've been pretending to be human for as long as I can remember."

"Their illusion can only last for a few hours at a time so they have to revert back to their natural form to restore their energy."

"I remember you telling me about the expenditure of magic once."

Anna smiled, "I did. And I'm impressed you listened."

"I was always told to respect my elders."

"Then you've done a fine job." Anna leaned back slightly, looking out over the Moors. "And I don't hate humans."

"What?'

"To answer your question, I don't hate humans." Anna stood, brushing her arm out as if to show off the Moors stretched below them. "All of this used to once be a part of the world with humans. We shared it all."

"What happened?"

"We all made different choices." Anna pointed at the tree, "The legend of my people is that we chose to eat from this tree and take on the role of protectors. Our duty became to protect the Moors and the land and the inherent magic in it."

"And Man chose differently?"

"They chose industry." Anna shrugged, "I think the magic of Mankind is what they can create. You don't see pixies building castles. Or sprites constructing water works to bring fresh water to the deserts."

"Have you seen the deserts?"

"Not since I had wings." Anna's hand opened, as if to touch her concealed wingbones, but stopped herself. "I went there once, when I was much younger."

"Did your raven go with you?"

Anna looked to the limbs of the tree where John sat, watching them. "It was before his time with me. Before I really knew anyone."

"I'd love to see the world." Mary sighed, "My aunts think it's too dangerous for me to travel. Say I should stay close so they can protect me."

"From what?"

"They told me that an evil fairy from the Moors took it upon herself to curse me as a baby." Mary shook her head, "It's nonsense. Curses don't exist."

"Says the girl standing on the edge of a cliff in the Moors after watching what I did at a wall of thorns." Anna snorted, "If magic exists then curses do to. There's always a downside to the positive."

"Then you know about the curse?"

Anna paused, "I know a great deal about a great many things."

"Do you know the fairy who cast it on me?"

Another moment passed and Anna forced herself to speak. "I know her very well. I know why she did it and… And I know that she tried to take it back once."

"What happened?"

"She played with powers she did not understand and she couldn't fix what she broke in a moment of anger." Anna pivoted to face the branches of the tree, "Life can be cruel like that sometimes."

"I don't think Life's cruel."

"No?" Anna turned slightly over her shoulder as Mary came to her side. "And what do you think Life is?"

"I think it just is." Mary's face hardened a moment, "I think people are cruel to others in Life. That's a different mess entirely."

"You're not wrong."

Neither of them spoke a moment but Anna noted the way Mary inspected the little plateau. "So… Why did you bring me up here?"

"Isn't the view enough?"

"It's lovely but…" Mary paced toward the tree, "You brought me into the Moors. You could've left me on the edge and then sent me back out. Why bring me tramping all the way up this cliff?"

"Because I wanted to show you this tree." Anna pointed, "You asked once, a long time ago, about my wings. This is the tree that made them."

"Can it make you another pair?"

"Can you make yourself another pair of legs?" Anna raised an eyebrow and Mary shook her head. "The tree, in itself, didn't make my wings. It's another one of the legends of my people."

"Are they still here? In the Moors like the sprites and pixies and other fairies?" Mary looked around, "Because I've never seen another fairy that looks like you, wings or no."

"Because they're… They're all dead." Anna put her hand on the tree, noting the slight golden glow that came from her hand to sink into the tree so she could hear it sing. "This tree is where the life of my kind is said to have begun."

"With the eating of the fruits?"

"That's right." Anna grazed her fingers along until she reached one of the tightly closed pods. "When I was very small, younger than you when you decided to tumble off the cliff, these would bloom. My parents always said that they were fruit for the young fairies, to help their wings grow big and strong to carry them over the clouds like birds."

"But now they don't grow?"

Anna shook her head, taking her hand back but noting the way the golden glow stayed on the tree for a moment. "It's not flowered since my parents died. The fruit doesn't grow here anymore and the pods are all hard."

"As in dead?"

"I'm no gardener and I only remember, in the vaguest of terms, what the tree even looked like when it bloomed." Anna blinked, wiping at her eyes. "I wish I could've seen it when my parents were young."

"Do you think it'll ever bloom again?" Mary tapped at the pod, twisting to look up at Anna from her slightly bent-over position. "Could it bloom again?"

"I don't know. It's not like other plants that follow the seasons." Anna put her hand to the tree again. "It's connected to my people and as I'm the last of my kind…"

"What if it did bloom again?" Mary straightened, crossing her arms over her chest. "What if it blossomed and bloomed and there was fruit on it again?"

"What if there was?"

"Could I eat the fruit?" Mary pointed at the pod, "If I ate the fruit that bloomed on this tree could I become like you?"

"I don't think so."

"But you've already said you don't know much about this tree." Mary knocked on the wood with a knuckle. "Maybe I could eat the fruit and I'd grow wings. And you'd eat a fruit and grow new wings."

"It's not that it's not a lovely thought," Anna put a hand on Mary's shoulder, retracting it in an instant. "It's more… It's more that I don't know if humans can eat the fruit."

"Is it poisonous to us?"

"It might be. As far I know humans have never eaten from this tree." Anna motioned to the cliff. "That's why it's here."

"And not in the mysterious garden that the priests always say was taken from the world when the first humans ate from the wrong tree?" Mary sat on one of the roots. "Maybe the Moors is the Garden of Eden."

"I don't think we're your Garden of Eden." Anna took a seat next to her. "And I don't think the fruit is poisonous to humans."

"Then why can't I eat it?"

"You mean despite the fact there's no fruit to eat?" Anna waited and Mary snorted a laugh, leading Anna to break a little smile. "Possibly because it might not affect you. If the fruit was made for my kind it wouldn't work on you."

"What if I'm the first human it works on and then humans have the chance to choose if they want wings or not?"

"Humans already made their choice."

"But that was a long time ago, by people who aren't me." Mary pointed at her chest. "You told me once that your people and mine used to be the same. If you look like me then, maybe, generations ago, your people and mine were one. That could mean that, maybe, if I ate the fruit I could get wings too."

"Even if we were the same people once, that was so long ago even the trees would have trouble recalling it." Anna shook her head, "We're not the same, Mary."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a Fairy and you're human."

"What if I wanted to be a Fairy and I didn't want to be human?" Mary kicked at the ground, "What if I didn't want this stupid curse hanging over my head?"

"I don't think we get that choice."

"Why not?" Mary almost stomped herself upright. "Why can't I choose for myself? Why do I have to live in fear of some angry witch who took out her rage on a harmless baby? On someone who did nothing to her?"

Anna waited, watching the swift rise and fall of Mary's chest. "Because choices were made. Just as my people once swore themselves to the defense of the Moors and humankind chose the path of innovation and invention, someone chose to punish another through you without realizing the consequences."

"Consequences?" Mary scoffed, "And what kind of consequences did the Fairies not consider when they chose immortality and eternal life with this tree in the beautiful salvation of the Moors?"

"The consequence that, in the defense of those Moors, my people all died." Anna stood, holding strongly to her staff. "Generation after generation fell to the greed of Mankind as they sought to take what they chose to abandon. Each year fewer and fewer of my kind were born to replace those who died in battle until I watched, the last child of my kind, my parents fall in the field."

Anna held Mary's gaze, "Now there's only me. I'm all that stand between Mankind and these Moors. I'm the last of my people and the only one of my kind." She closed the distance between them, "Now tell me, do you believe that if I had the choice I wouldn't, in a heartbeat, exchange my fate for another? For humanity so I wouldn't be alone?"

Mary hung her head, "I guess not."

"Do you believe I would face each day with a little more joy if I wasn't the last of my kind, living with the knowledge that my death signals the end of a race?"

"But…" Mary pointed at the tree, "It could bloom again and you wouldn't be alone any longer."

"It doesn't bloom, Mary. It grows no flowers, holds no moss, and gives n o joy or signs of life."

"And no more fruit grows?"

Anna shook her head, "No. The tree is barely surviving. The song inside it is weak and fading." She left her fingers grace the curling roots to graze the bark. "It's all but dead now."

"When it dies…" Mary bit at her lip, her voice quiet. "Will you die too?"

"I think it's more that when I die, it will die too." Anna withdrew her fingers. "As if my people never existed at all."

Mary paced along the tree, both lost in their own thoughts. Anna's fingers slipped on her staff when Mary spoke again as the venom in the young girl's voice broke the silence. "And the fairy who cursed me? Is she dead too?"

"No, she's very much alive."

"How do I find her?"

Anna frowned, "Why would you want to?"

"Because I want to ask her why. Why she cursed me." Mary held up her hand and Anna noted a pinprick of gold there. "Why this grows a little bigger every day. Why everyone's afraid of my sixteenth birthday. Why I'm the one suffering for her pain or whatever made her cruel enough to curse me."

"You wouldn't like the answers you'd get to those questions."

"At least I'd have answers."

"Sometimes knowing why something happened only makes it more painful." Anna started back down the path, John flying to settle on her shoulder. "Sometimes it's better not to know."

"I deserve answers." Mary's footfalls sounded behind her, voice still raised. "I deserve to know."

"Perhaps it's not about deserve."

"But it is." Mary's hand landed on Anna's shoulder and turned her so they faced one another. "I want to know why I'm going to die."

"You're not going to die."

"The way everyone talks in hushed whispers around me about any of those things would be good enough reason to think differently."

Anna took a deep breath and then sighed. "It's not a curse for you to die. It's a curse that you'll sleep until awakened by True Love's Kiss."

"That's even more cruel." Mary withdrew a pace, taking her hand back. "At least with death you have no hope. To hold it out to someone like that, the hope of survival, just to snatch it away… It's so much worse."

"It is a curse." Anna turned back to the path, "They're not, on the whole, meant to be pleasant experiences."

"Then who was she trying to curse?" Mary's voice continued behind Anna. "Who was that fairy trying to punish when she used me as the weapon of torment?"

"Your father, King Alexander." Anna rounded Mary fast enough that the girl stumbled back a step. "That fairy used her rage and anger at your father for stealing what was most precious to her, and refusing to return it, and punished him through you. You were the weapon of his demise and…"

Anna deflated, "And she regretted it bitterly."

"Then why not just take the curse away?"

"Because it's not that simple."

"But it is." Mary insisted, "All you have to do is reverse it. Just say the words and then poof, it's over. I could do it."

"I don't think you understand."

"Then it's just excuses for why-"

Anna put up her hand and blew across her palm so golden dust flared around Mary's face. The girl stopped mid-sentence, her eyes going half shut, and she pitched forward if not for the golden cloud that bore her up and laid her horizontally in the air as if she slept on an invisible cloud. A soft croak at Anna's side had her flicking her fingers to bring John to human form before steering the sleeping Mary down the switchbacks of the cliff.

"You couldn't let her rant it out."

"And have her drive herself mad or into a tizzy about something she can't change?" Anna paused, "Something I can't change?"

"Don't think I didn't notice how you didn't tell her who the fairy was."

"Better she not know." Anna sighed, "This was easier when I didn't…"

"Didn't what?"

"Didn't know her." Anna stepped to the side, allowing the floating Mary to hang in the air between them. "When she was nothing but the object of my revenge. Before she grew in grace, beauty, and intelligence."

"You'd have her awkward, ugly, and foolish?"

"I'd have not cemented the blessings of the pixies." Anna shook her head, "Pixie magic is mischievous and treacherous. All I did was encourage it in her. I thought I was deigning to such an act, being cruel in that kindness. Really I just doomed myself."

"I don't understand."

"Pixies are graceful because it's in their nature, such a gift to a human gives them pixie-like qualities." Anna pointed, "She's not a clumsy person."

"Her topple into the water when she was ten says differently."

"Gravity still has a say." Anna shivered, "And her intelligence is more than just learning from books. Pixies can only deceive if they can perceive. She's always been a perceptive creature."

"Is that why we could never hide effectively from her?"

Anna nodded, "And her beauty… It's more than just a lovely face with defined cheekbones. It's also that she'll be beautiful to all who meet her. It's the pixie illusion. It's the deception of their race."

"But it's more than beauty."

"That was my part in it." Anna let her hand trace the air over the golden cloud that billowed and pricked over Mary's form. "When I added my magic to theirs, I made it so she'd be beloved by all who meet her. So she'd be smarter than most around her. So she'd be more like my kind."

John pursed his lips. "Beloved by all who… Then you…"

Anna nodded again, "Don't you see? Pride cometh before the fall."

"Part of why you love her is because you created the magic that made all love her. Even you, as you got to know her… It just amplified whatever feelings you had until you're… You love her like everyone else does."

"Can you understand why I didn't want to protect her or meet her as a baby?" Anna let her eyes move Mary's prone form. "I lied to her by not telling her the truth because I couldn't bear the thought that I've done this to the creature I love."

"But you tried to fix it."

"And I failed." Anna motioned and Mary's body moved again crossing the Moors as Anna did. "I couldn't reverse the curse."

"So you didn't tell her it was you?"

"She'd never forgive me." Anna brought up two fingers and drew a line in the air to split it into blackness. "It's selfish, I know, but I want to keep as much time as we have until she discovers the truth."

"You think she will?"

Anna turned over her shoulder to John, "Mary's not stupid." John made to follow her but Anna held up her other hand. "Please, I need to do this alone."

He nodded, "Hurry back."

"Of course."

Anna passed through the split and into Mary's room. The confines were tighter with an almost full-grown Mary to maneuver about the space but Anna managed to get her resting comfortably on her bed. A flick of her fingers and the gold cloud dissipated, leaving Mary blinking herself awake. The flare from the light on Anna's fingers had both of them squinting a moment before Mary spoke.

"You did that to stop me talking."

"Yes." Anna nodded, moving closer to the bed and leaving the light hanging in the air. "You would've worn yourself out trying to untangle something that's very simple and yet so very difficult to understand."

"And what's that?"

"People are selfish and short-sighted and cruel." Anna brought the light closer so the colors changed. "But they're also kind and generous and forgiving."

"Is this you trying to tell me that if I ever met that fairy I should forgive her?"

"No," Anna shook her head, "I think you should do whatever you think is best. I'm just saying that nothing is as simple as we believe it to be when we're seeking for catharsis. Our roads to reconciliation and closure are often far more pitted than we'd like to admit."

"Are you speaking from experience," Mary made a face, "Or as my fairy godmother giving me good advice?"

"You're find that those in my position can," Anna stood, "And often do perform both actions simultaneously."

"What would you say to that fairy, if you met her again?"

Anna chewed the insides of her cheeks, "That she doesn't deserve your forgiveness, should you condescend to give it, but that she should spend the rest of her life trying to earn it so that, maybe one day, she could forgive herself the evil she's done."

"Really?"

Anna shrugged, "It's no more than any of us can ask of ourselves or others."

Mary laid back on her bed, "I hope I never meet her. I don't want to have that burden on me."

"Goodnight Mary." Anna walked back through the split in the air, closing it behind her to leave her facing John.

"How is she?"

"She'll be fine until she realizes the truth." Anna sighed, holding up her hand when John tried to approach. "I'd… I'd like to be alone, for a moment."

"Of course." John pointed toward the tree. "I'll be up there, if you need me."

Anna nodded and waved her hand to send John soaring toward the tree. She watched him go, wings spread wide to catch the wind, and smiled to herself. "Soars instead of flaps. A raven indeed."


	14. Lies in the Moors

Anna walked through the forest, her staff prodding the ground as it kept pace with her, and paused at the sound of John's soft croak. "And what can I do for you?"

He croaked again and Anna flicked her fingers so he landed on two feet. "I don't know why you make me do that if you can do it for yourself."

A flick of her fingers had John standing before her and Anna rested both hands on her staff to lean her chin on the backs of them. John collected himself, pulling at the black coat before check over it. "You've never given me a coat before."

"The weather's getting colder and you'll freeze without all those beautiful feathers to keep you warm." Anna ruffled her shoulders, demonstrating her fur-lined coat. "We're not as young as we used to be."

"Are you saying you feel old?" John hurried to keep pace with Anna as she walked, her fingers brushing over the trees so they glittered with golden light a moment. "Because Mary's sixteenth birthday is approaching and-"

"Don't." Anna held up a hand, "I don't want to hear about it."

"Then you'd be interested to know that-"

Anna turned fast enough to almost overbalance John. "Know what?"

"I think Mary's found someone?"

Her eyebrow rose, "Like some poor soul lost on the edge of the Moors? She finds them all the time. Idiots, the lot of them."

"No," John cleared his throat, "I think she's found someone she likes."

"Likes how?"

"Romantically?" John shrugged and Anna narrowed her eyes. "They're over by the pond. He's teaching her how to skate and-"

Anna flicked her fingers and John was a raven in a moment and she took to her dove form so he could guide her to pond in question. They landed on branches and Anna carefully fluttered down to one strong enough to hold her weight before returning to her normal form. She lodged herself in the tangle of branches and watched as a blonde-headed young man held Mary's hands as she tentatively followed him onto the frozen pond.

She took a deep breath and watched as they clattered and careened around the pond, grabbing at one another as they threatened to topple over. But once they found their balance the laughter and giggles began, turning both of their faces red with exertion and joy. A tiny smile crept over Anna's face and she flitted her fingers in the air to thicken the ice under them so their skates could sink deeper into the surface. The motion continued the endless circles of cutting into the ice lulled Anna for a few moments until a steady fluttering finally took her attention.

With a flick of her fingers, John landed next to her, upsetting some of the snow from the tangle of branches and almost alerting Mary and the young man with her to their presence. Anna waved her hand and another branch, on the other side of the pond, cracked and dropped snow on the two of them. They paused and then laughed, dusting one another off before continuing their skating.

Turning to John, who cringed appropriately, Anna raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

"Do you see?"

"I see two young people threatening themselves with drowning and cold by putting themselves in a position to crack through thin ice."

"You thickened it."

"I saved her from drowning once." Anna rolled her shoulders, getting back into a position where she could watch the progression of the two skaters. "I have no interest in watching it happen again or trying to save her again."

"But you see it, don't you?" Anna only sighed so John pointed, "He could be her hope. That could be her True Love."

"No, he can't."

"You said that about the last boy."

"They were ten. Love doesn't exist at that age since no one understands love when they're that young."

"She's not young now." John moved into a crouch, his arms settling on his knees to hang down. "Are you afraid she'll find someone and leave you out of your revenge? Or that she found someone at all?"

"Have you not worked it out yet?" Anna faced John, ignoring the excited laughter and joyous sounds behind them. "I cursed her that way because there's no such thing as True Love."

John paused, biting at his cheek before nodding. "For you, maybe. But for her… He could be her chance to find love."

"Maybe he is." Anna shrugged, "And maybe he's not. I'll not stop them if that's what they think. But he'll just break her heart. The same way Green did mine."

"You don't have a high opinion of men."

"On the whole," Anna stood, drawing her finger through the air to split it. "I don't like Mankind so no, I don't hold a high opinion of men."

"And you believe they invented True Love," John followed her, leaving the noises behind for the quiet of the forest. "To do what? Torture themselves and their children with a dream that'll never come true."

"With hope, like Mary said." Anna sighed, "It's the salve people use when their lives are dreary and horrible. They want to feel there is something more so they invent things like True Love and Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time because those things are supposed to fill empty bellies and give pause to the fears that grip in the dark of the night."

"Then they can't exist?"

"Not for me."

"And that's the problem." John jabbed a finger at her, "That maybe it didn't exist for you then, with Green, but it could exist now for her. It could be with that boy. Or any of a hundred she could meet before she has to prick her finger on that damned spinning wheel."

Anna shook her head, "I told you, _no power on earth could change it_ … I told everyone in that room on the day of her Christening." She paused, her teeth pulling at her lip. "I… I heard it echoing in my ears when I tried to take the curse back into myself that night. I know it in my bones that nothing can save her."

"Perhaps it's not about saving her but bringing her back?"

"Even if it were," Anna tried to manage a snort of derision but it only came out as a half-hearted sob. "How's something as ridiculous as love going to do it?"

John smiled at her, "Because love's not a power of this earth."

"Is it always as simple as that for you?" Anna went to move but John was at her back in a second, his voice whispering in her ear.

"Yes."

She closed her eyes, basking in the sensation of him around her for a moment. "And would you call this True Love?"

"Would you?"

"I don't know if I can even say what 'love' even is."

"Then let me tell you," His fingers ran over her arms, dragging the cloak with them before falling back to leave her shivering from something other than cold. "What I feel for you is love."

The dot of kisses over the exposed skin on her neck left Anna shivering. "Why? Why do you feel anything for me?"

"Because you wanted to grow with me. To grow better with me, remember?" John paused and Anna caught a flash of silver in her peripheral vision as John's hands skated down her arms to hold at her hips. "That desire to change, to see how you have changed… That is love, Anna."

"What if I still don't know if I love? If I can?" Anna closed her eyes, leaning back into John's hold and his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. "What if I lost that part of myself and I'm only shoring up the walls in the interim?"

"But you love Mary." John rested his chin on her shoulder. "You wanted to take your curse away from her. You tried. You saved her life. You told her the truth-"

"I told her part of the truth." Anna sighed, opening her eyes. "I love myself more than I love her if I couldn't tell her the truth. If I couldn't… If I couldn't confess to her, like she deserves."

"Then tell her now." They rocked slowly in place, John's arms only holding her loosely. "Tell her the truth before she pricks her finger and let her make the decision for herself."

"Is that what love is?"

"Love is giving someone the power to hurt you." John's arms loosened and Anna turned over her shoulder to look at him. "You tell her the truth and you've given her the power to turn on you, to hate you… That's a power in love."

"And you?" Anna fully faced John, "Would you ever hurt me?"

"You've never lied to me and," John's finger traced the line of her cheekbone and down her jaw. "You've always shown me exactly who you are."

"And yet you stayed with me?" Anna caught his hand, her fingers bringing wisps of gold to the tips to spark and light with the slivers of silver slipping from John. "Through all the ugly truth you saw you stayed?"

"That's a question?" John smiled, his hands holding along her jaw. "After all this time I've seen nothing ugly about you."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." He smiled at her, but Anna noted the twinge of sadness there. "For you are without fault."

"That's not true."

"It is for me." John took a breath. "You've changed. You're grown. And you're better now than you were."

"I still feel broken."

"We'll always feel a little broken, no matter how much time passes." John's hands left Anna's face but moved to hold her hands instead. "We're all broken, in our own ways. And we're all trying to slowly fix ourselves as best we can."

"I don't know if I can tell her the truth." Anna swallowed, "I… I can't tell her it was me all along. I can't… How do I… It's too hard."

"She deserves to know the truth Anna, and to make up her own mind." John stepped back. "I'll be there the whole time."

"As you are now or as you were when I first cast the curse on her?"

"In whatever way gives you the courage to do what you need to now."

"Then," Anna flicked her fingers and John became a raven. He immediately flew to her shoulder, landing there and digging his talons in just enough to communicate what he would if he held her hand. A wisp of gold coated Anna's fingers as she swept them down his back, smoothing over his feathers. "By my side, as you always are."

She split the air, walking through the space to shadow herself under the cover of the same tree that acted as her earlier perch. The laughter was weaker now, punctuated with gasping breaths and the heavy breathing of physical exertion, but Anna still swallowed hard as she peeked out from behind the tree. In a flash she caught Mary's eye and watched as the girl skated to the side of the pond.

Whatever conversation passed between she and the blonde young man happened quickly but not so quickly that the boy did not press a kiss to Mary's cheek. The flush of red that joined the rising blood of physical activity was almost pink to match the giggling smile Mary tried to hide with a hand as the boy scampered off. His whistling floated back to them, almost acting as poorly themed music for Anna's crossing of the frozen pond to the log where Mary divested herself of the skates to cover her feet with thick boots.

"I hope that wasn't you spying on me earlier."

"I was merely watching." Anna ran a finger down the feathers on John's chest. "He told me there was something I should see and I wanted to make sure you were safe. I'd hate to have to rescue you from drowning again."

"I do hope you're not going to try and change Matthew's mind the way you changed Tom Branson's."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Anna pointed to the log and Mary scooted over enough to allow Anna space next to her. "Is that his name? Matthew?"

"Yes. And he's lovely and sweet… Perhaps a bit too much of both for me but he's keen and I think he makes me better."

Anna nodded her head, brushing at John as he landed on her knee. "The people we love should make us better."

"I didn't say I loved him."

"And if you did?"

Mary's mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally found the words she wanted. "Then maybe we'll run away together. Escape my curse through distance rather than face it."

Anna almost scoffed a laugh as she recited words she said to John so many years ago, "That's the thing about curses. They're not bound by location."

"No?"

"No." Anna shook her head, "They're bound to the receiver and there's no escaping that. No distance you put between you and a curse will ever be enough because it's inside you."

"How'd you know?"

"Watch." Anna snapped her fingers, bringing a bit of gold there and barely touched Mary's shoulder. The girl almost yelped back at the snap of green that tried to fight back against Anna's touch. "It's there. I see it all the time in you."

"Then it's related to this." Mary held up her right pointer finger and Anna swallowed hard at the growth of gold in veiny traces over her skin. "Isn't it? The curse inside me is the same as this thing here, isn't it?"

"They're connected, yes."

Mary's eyes narrowed, "What do you know about it? Last time I couldn't get you to say almost a word that wasn't oblique and dodgy."

"We had a similar conversation, when you were four, if you remember."

"Vaguely, I think." Mary's face scrunched further, "Do you know something I should know but don't?"

"There are a great many things I know that you don't but…" Anna swallowed, "Last time you said you wanted to find the fairy who did this to you. You said you wanted to know why she cursed you. Why that prick on your finger grows bigger every day. Why everyone's afraid for your sixteenth birthday. Why you're… Why you're suffering."

"Yes." Mary answered slowly, the suspicion on her rolling almost as strongly as the ever-present waft of green. "But you said I wouldn't like the answers I'd get."

"And you won't." Anna took a breath, "The answer to why she cursed you is simple, she wanted to hurt your father because he wronged her."

"So she cursed me for her revenge?"

"Sometimes the worst thing you can do to a person is leave them helpless." Anna closed her eyes, "And the spot on your finger grows bigger because, when you're sixteen, you'll prick your finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep like death. The one only True Love's kiss will wake you from."

"That's why everyone's scared about my sixteenth birthday?"

Anna nodded, "It was the first time the fairy who cursed you experienced something she was told was True Love. It was another way to hurt your father. To remind him of the pain he caused."

"By reflecting it in me?"

"Yes." Anna waited a moment, "And you're suffering because someone filled with so much rage and pain could not see past those things to acknowledge that their actions would hurt another. They only wanted others to feel the pain they did and she did not care who, particularly, hurt in the interim. She only cared that someone did and so she cursed you."

Mary was silent a moment before standing. She paced to the edge of the pond and back a few times before facing Anna. "You're right."

"About?"

"I don't like the answers to these questions." Mary hugged her arms around herself, the blush of exertion gone from her cheeks. "But at least I've got them."

"Not all of them." Anna pushed herself to stand, forcing John back to her shoulder as both of her hands gripped her staff. "I warned you that sometimes knowing the why only made it more painful."

"You said it was better for me not to know."

"Because I was being selfish." Anna tried to swallow but could barely manage it. "You deserve answers and I withheld them because I was selfish. I didn't… I didn't want t think about what might happen if you knew the truth. If you had to face the truth and force me to face it in turn when I told it to you."

"What are you…"

"I'm the one who cursed you." Anna almost closed her eyes but she forced herself to open them so she could face Mary. Face the truth. "I've watched over you your entire life because… At first because I feared those three idiots would kill you in your crib by their negligence and I didn't want to be robbed of my vengeance. But as time went on I… I cared about you. I tried to reverse the curse when you-"

"Stop." Mary held up a hand. "I don't want to hear anything else."

"I was trying to-"

"I don't care about what you were trying to do." Mary took a step back, her finger shaking as she pointed it at Anna. "My aunts may be failures about keeping secrets or adequately raising me but… They've never lied to me to protect themselves. They've never been so gratuitously self-serving as to betray me like you did. They told me…"

Anna waited as Mary tried to speak past the rage and betrayal and sorrow all fighting for dominance in her expression. "They told me that there's evil in the world and I used to think that meant there were monsters and villains and horrible people out there but now I realize…" She shook with whatever emotions took temporary dominance over her in the alternating minutes. "You're the evil in the world."

"Mary-"

"Don't come near me and don't touch me." Mary almost spit at her, hissing as she backed away to send the snow into powdery puffs. "I never want to see you again and may your shadow never haunt me again."

Anna gripped the staff in her hand hard, watching Mary run away in the snow. She waited until there was no sound but the twitter of the brave winter birds and her heart thudding dully in her chest. A grip of talons in her shoulder had Anna snap her fingers to bring John standing in the snow next to her. He adjusted himself to pull his coat tighter before reaching a finger forward to wipe at the tears running from Anna's eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be." Anna shook her head, almost batting away in his hand in the attempt for her to wipe at her eyes. "You told me this would happen. I just… I didn't expect it would be so painful."

"I'm still sorry."

"It's not your fault." Anna tried to smile at him but her eyes only continued to fill with tears. "I brought this on myself."

They returned to the Moors and Anna noted, from her high perch in her tree, that John changed more frequently between his human form and that of the raven. All on his own for she did nothing but languish away in the tree that was her home. Watching from a distance the life continuing on below her in the Moors. Life that, as she watched it, passed by without a notice of her involvement at all.

She noted the times John found her with her toes gripping the edge of the various cliffs of the Moors. Saw the way his fingers flexed and gripped and the little twitches of motion he adopted as if he would leap forward to catch her if she jumped. But the heights, once beckoning friends, now dizzied her. Teased her with their great drops as if to join in the litany of repetitious torture already echoing in her ears every minute of every day.

" _I never want to see you again and may your shadow never haunt me again_."

" _This curse will last until the end of time and no power on earth can change it._ "

" _You're the evil in the world_."

Phrases and bounced and broke through her thoughts leaving her listless and despondent. Interrupting her sleep to leave her in a half-doze from exhaustion but never finding rest. Repeating endlessly until Anna would break into tears on the highest cliffs of the Moors or in the depths of the lowest swamps. Tears that drove all but John from her until Anna took to walking the boundary of the Moors, closer and closer to the wall of thorns that occupied the spaces between the stone golems with their open mouths.

The sounds of her mourning, of her breaking soul and aching heart, worked better than any wall she ever constructed. In the times when she listened to John's reports from beyond the Moors she noted that the people thought a banshee now occupied the Moors and the soldiers refused to compete with a banshee or witch and whatever else they though she was when they took the time to speak of her at all. Time Anna thought wasted to the point where she found herself stroking along the long tines of the piercing thorns and wondering if she could just return them to the earth to rest.

If she might return to the earth and rest.

It was just at the cusp of Spring, the melting runoff soaking her feet as she walked barefoot on the ground she only barely heard singing through her pain, when Anna heard another sound. Above the singing that betrayed the joy of the creatures and beasts and growth of the Moors at her perceived absence, Anna heard a different call. One that sounded as if there was a voice crying out for her.

She followed it, slipping through splits in the air to try and better locate the source until she found herself just outside the clearing of Mary's home. Part of her wanted to step forward but the protections she erected so long ago now hummed a warning to her. Hummed that those inside did not want her there but the voice persisted and Anna walked the edge of the line she created to get as close as possible to the cries.

Cries she now recognized as Mary's.

Anna broke through the barrier in a moment, ignoring the sensation of tinkling glass falling over her as she did, and pushed through to see two soldiers marching from the cottage. The three fairies followed after them, tittering and twittering and pulling at the men who held Mary fast in their grip. The men who ignored all cries and pleas to force Mary into a carriage.

Breaking forward, running over the sodden ground, Anna tried to catch up to the carriage. Tried to force the doors open with the golden light from a distance but the doors repelled her. And even when she reached them, her fingers burned even to touch the handle much less fiddle with the lock.

She ignored the gasps of surprise from the three fairies, ignored the yells and warnings from the soldiers, and banged her hand against the iron door despite the burns already tightening on her skin. Mary's face came to the slat, pulling it back to see her and their fingers touched for a moment. Their eyes met and Anna struggled all the harder on the door.

"Help me." Mary pleaded, her fingers tugging at Anna's even as hands wrapped in iron grabbed Anna about the waist. "Godmother!"

They threw her to the ground and Anna coughed past the loss of air to her lungs. She tried to stand, tried to regain feeling in her burned but healing fingers, and attempted another go for the carriage. But a large fist hit her side and sent her sideways. When she corrected her position something stabbed into her shoulder and she hit the ground on her knees.

"Stay down pixie or we'll stab you where you won't heal."

The burn in her blood, on her skin, had Anna staggering to her feet and trying again, reaching for the door. But a sharp crack landing across her cheek and she hit the ground. Hit hard enough to jar the staff from her hand so it shrank back to a sapling stick. Hard enough to blur her vision so she could only reach feebly after the departing carriage.

Her eyes tried to focus, her ears clouded with the chittering of the three fairies and John's recognizable croaks, and all turned gray. Turned gray until the two figures appeared before her. The figures with wings that brushed the ground as they moved and threatened to open large enough to block out the sky. The figures who turned to her and while their faces were a mask of unclear shapes their voices rang in her mind.

"Find us, Anna. Find your people. Be whole once more." The male-like voice intoned, almost like a lullaby.

"Come to where the world ends and find us." A more feminine voice, ringing with the sweet caress of a mother's kiss.

They faded from her thoughts, from her view, and Anna succumbed to the welcoming beckon of the darkness just beyond them.


	15. Resolutions of Men

Her eyes opened slowly, as if fighting a weight on the lids, and she tried to breathe but immediately put a hand to her bruised side. John's voice, soft and gentle, spoke in her ear. "Don't move."

"Where's Mary?" Anna closed her eyes again, fluttering them to try and slowly restore the fullness of her sight from her prone position.

"I don't know." John's fingers tended to her and Anna hissed when he touched tender skin. "Sorry. They bruised you quite badly."

"What about the burns?"

"Your hands are still a little scared and your shoulder… It's not healed."

"Mistletoe." Anna breathed and John paused, "The weed that hangs from trees. It causes lethargy in my kind."

"The weed you told me about?"

Anna tried to nod and thought better of moving. "The iron on the carriage, it was treated with it. Made the iron more potent. Made it… burn and sting. I couldn't hold it long before I lost feeling in my fingers."

"Then he's used it, with his metallurgists?"

"I think so." Anna sighed, finally fully opening her eyes to frown at the thatched roof above her. "Where am I?"

"The cottage. I didn't want to move you back to Moors."

"What about the fairies?"

"They've gone to the castle, to try and find out what happened to Mary."

"Are they on our side."

"They were confused and I think changing in front of them almost scared them to death but I explained… Most of the situation to them." John took her hand. "The strike to your shoulder, it wasn't meant to kill you."

"Just weaken me." Anna took a breath, even risking a partial smile. "If I'd been one of the other fairies I'd be dead right now."

"Then they knew that." John touched her wound and Anna flinched. "There's a shard in there and I need to get it out."

Anna gripped tightly to the blankets under her as John cut into her skin to extract the shard. She cried out and only muffled the sound when John offered her a wad of cloth. Biting into it left Anna screaming into the fabric until John pulled away, holding the shard in bloody fingers.

"Got it." He pulled the material from Anna's mouth and used it to stop the bleeding. "What happened?"

"Soldiers came and took Mary away." Anna struggled to speak, the pain in her shoulder pulsing and echoing into her bones. "It's not her birthday. Not for another few months. But they came anyway. They put in her that iron carriage and… They made it so I couldn't get her out."

"And so her fairy aunts couldn't either." John noted, bandaging Anna up as best he could before helping her sit up to better examine the blow to her side. "It'll bruise but other than making it hard to breathe I don't think they broke anything."

"So it's just my hands and my shoulder then?"

John nodded, "As far as I can tell, anyway."

"And the fairies, you said they went to the castle?"

John nodded again, "That's what my bird spies tell me."

"Bird spies?"

"What do you think I've been doing while you trudged your way over the boundary line of the Moors acting the banshee?" John jabbed but Anna did not take the bait. "I was making the friends I needed to gather intelligence. It's nearing Mary's birthday and I wanted to see what might be going on at the castle."

"And you didn't see this?"

"I knew the metallurgists were working as hard as ever. And I noted that I couldn't find any trace of the mistletoe weed but I didn't know if they were using it or people were tired of the weed hanging from their trees."

"What do your bird spies say now?"

"Only that the fairies went to the castle and the metallurgists are hard at work again." John paused, his hands still wrapping strips of cloth over Anna's torso to keep a poultice to her bruise and binding over her shoulder injury. "Does Green think you'll come for Mary?"

"Why would I?" Anna shrugged and then hissed as it pulled at the skin of her shoulder. "The curse will do that work for me. Only an idiot would think I'd go there to gloat over a job well done."

"But you came here." John finished, tying the material tight enough to leave Anna wincing. "Why'd you come?"

"Mary called for me." Anna lay back on the bed, her body aching everywhere. "I came because she needed me."

"Is that how the soldiers got in?"

"The shield I erected to protect this place would not allow me in so I had to break it to try and help Mary." Anna shook her head, "It might've let them in but it wasn't made to keep soldiers out. Not when they can't hurt her."

"What do you mean? They took her."

"But they're Green's men and she's their princess." Anna waved a hand, "And even if they wanted to hurt her, the curse wouldn't let her die before it enacted itself. Nefarious purposes of others would be stopped."

"Then why watch over her all those years if she couldn't be hurt?"

"I said nefarious purpose, not accidents or human error." Anna raised her eyebrows at John, "Did you so easily forget that you brought her back to life once?"

"Of course not." John started at a knock on the door. "Should I-"

The knocking persisted and Anna nodded at John. He left her on the bed in the corner and crossed the room to open the door. The blonde-headed young man from the pond, almost a lifetime ago, stood there with an auburn headed boy Anna thought she recognized. Both of them startled enough to take a step back at the sight of John looming in the doorway.

"Sorry sir we're…" The auburn headed boy started and Anna recognized the lilt of the Irish accent on him.

"You're Tom Branson, aren't you?" She called out and John stepped aside to allow the two young men inside. The boy blinked at Anna, trussed up as she was in bandages and laying on the bed, before she pointed to the other man. "That means you must be Matthew."

"Yes miss, we are." Matthew's jaw flexed and he swallowed hard before clearing his throat. "Are you Mary's aunt? She never let us meet them but-"

"No, I'm not." Anna tried to smile at them but the weakness in her bones quickly dragged it away from her face. "I am… I was, her Godmother, in a way."

"I don't-" Branson began but Anna shook her head.

"It's of no consequence. Not when you're here about something else."

"We're…" Matthew cleared his throat again. "We're looking for Mary. We heard some nasty things in the village. They say she was taken by soldiers. Said that her aunts were… Were Fey Folk."

"It's Fair Folk, technically speaking, and they're pixies." Anna pushed herself to sit up further, holding to her side as she did. "And yes, she was taken by soldiers."

"What do soldiers want with her? She's done nothing to them. She's nothing to them but a girl living in the back woods here and…" Branson stopped and his face darkened, "Did they take her for the King? Is that why they've come? He happened to see her once and now he wants her?"

"If that's the case then it's not quite as sordid as you're imagining now, I assure you." Anna took a breath, "Mary is the princess, in case she forgot to mention that to either of you."

They gaped at her but Matthew recovered first. "So they took back?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Branson stepped forward, "Why take her back now? They've not given two shits about her before."

"Because she's in danger." Anna blinked, her body still complaining and bidding her sleep to try and fight the pain. "Not that she's better off there but I guess 'out of sight, out of mind' wasn't really going to satisfy the King forever."

"In danger from what?"

"From me, if you're so curious." Ana snapped back at Branson's tone, sending him almost toppling over in surprise. "Or from the curse I laid on her years ago."

"You put the curse on her?" Matthew took a step forward, the anger twisting in his features almost matching the indignation in Branson's. "You're the evil fairy who cursed her as a baby?"

"That's right." Anna eyed the two men. "What, hoping to avenge yourself on me for her now?"

"I'd like to." Matthew almost growled but Anna rolled her eyes.

"Branson, could you recall what happened to Mary when you were both ten years old and playing too near a river?"

Branson paled and then looked between Matthew and Anna. "Mary almost drown. She fell into the rapids and someone jumped after her. Came back and changed my memory for awhile but Mary set me right. Helped me remember."

"And just who do you think saved Mary?" Anna waited but neither boy could speak before she pointed between herself and John. "We did."

"Why?" Matthew's question brought her attention back to him. "If you just wanted to kill her later why do it? Wanted your prize for slaughter?"

"I was a different person when Mary was a baby than I was when she was ten." Anna's voice quieted, "Than I am now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," John stepped forward, forcing Branson back. "That she's not injured here because she tried to hurt Mary but because she tried to stop the soldiers taking her. She wants to reverse the curse on her."

"Convenient." Branson tried to mutter but John snapped her fingers to get the boy's attention.

"Bloody inconvenient since there's no easy way to do it and she's not succeeded thus far." John snuck a glance at Anna. "But you two could help."

"How?" Matthew waved a hand to stop whatever response Branson almost gave. "What do we do?"

"They've got openings for servants at the castle. You go there, get yourselves positions with mobility, and you keep an eye on Mary. You make sure she's safe there while we try to find a way to reverse the curse from here." John took a breath, "It's the best thing you can do for Mary now."

"And what do you get out of it?" Matthew met Anna's eyes and she barely moved as he approached the edge of her bed. "If we help her, what is it to you?"

"Catharsis and salvation, I hope."

"Then this is all about you?" Branson tried to say but Anna shook her head, exhaustion keeping her from a more emphatic response.

"It's about Mary. It always should've been about Mary but…" She took a breath, "It's hard for you to imagine but I made a mistake and Mary's suffering for it. This is my chance to try and repair the damage I've done so she can live. So she can have a life and live that life in peace."

"That's what you want?" Matthew's face still screwed up in his focus and Anna met his gaze. "That's truly your motivation?"

"It's all that matters now."

"Then we'll do it." Matthew stood straighter and silenced Branson. "If it's what helps Mary then it's all that matters."

"John," Anna turned to him, "Help them."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine here." Anna gave him a small smile, "I'll rest and you'll return. I'm no good to you otherwise. Not like this."

John nodded and turned to the young men. "Try not to scream."

Neither had enough time to question him before John transformed before them. Branson cried out in a high-pitched voice while Matthew toppled back into the table. They recovered when John croaked at them and then followed when he motioned them for the door.

When it shut in its frame, Anna closed her eyes and slowed her breathing to try and sleep so her body could heal. The soft sounds of the cottage and the forest outside it lulled her into a doze and Anna almost slipped into sleep when a voice called to her. A voice she heard before.

Anna blinked but she was not in the cottage. She stood on the cliff where the two winged creatures waited for her. They stared off into the distance, the crash of the ocean below them, and did not turn as she approached them.

Their forms loomed over her, almost pillars in the gray of the dreamscape where they met again. The one on her left turned and Anna saw the dark face of a man, his wings large and black to match the intensely braided hair pulling from his scalp, examining her with red eyes. Eyes that gazed into her very soul and almost forced Anna to turn away from the intrusive study.

But to turn away only brought her to face the woman with slanting eyes. Hair as dark as the man's wings whipped and moved around wings almost gray-white in the light. Her expression held as much investigative interest as the man's and Anna tried to keep herself standing in place under the inspection as they pivoted at the same moment to form a wall of wing and body before her.

"You've seen us before." The man's voice, the lulling cadence of the lullaby that bid her to find them when she bore the burns of the mistletoe traces. "We've called to you and bid you find us."

"You told me to find my people." Anna swallowed, "But I'm the last of my kind. I'm the only one left in the Moors."

"Do you believe your people are limited to the Moors?" The woman spoke and the sweet brush of it against Anna's psyche almost had her reaching out toward the woman. But the instinct for the voices had her drawing back, pulling into herself to protect against the cloying bids of trust.

"They're all I've ever known." Anna took a breath. "They're my home and I must protect them."

"Without your wings?" The male pressed and Anna's face hardened.

"If you're concerned about them, then why did you wait so long to bid me find you where the world ends? Wait until now to have me be whole once more?"

"Because you weren't ready and neither was your mate." The male shrugged and his large wings shuffled to match the motion before flaring out and settling.

"My mate?" Anna frowned, "I have no mate."

"Then what do you call the raven who flies on your shoulder and takes the form of a man?" The female cocked her head at Anna. "Do you not take your pleasure in him and he in you?"

Anna shuffled, "That's no business of yours."

"Perhaps it is. Given that your tree has not bloomed since your birth." The female nodded at Anna, "Your line much continue."

"My line can't continue. It's over and done when I die."

"Perhaps if you come here, come to where we wait for you," The male approached her, his hand settling on Anna's injured shoulder. "You'll find that such things are not as impossible as they seem to you now."

Anna winced at the weight and then sighed as the pain faded away. "I can't come to where you are."

"You refuse?" The female turned to the male. "She would refuse us?"

"I have no wings, as you've noticed." Anna escaped the hold of the male, taking a step away from them. "It would be impossible for me to come to the end of the world if I can't travel there."

"You can turn yourself into a bird." The male bowed to her, his wings spreading. "Do so and come to us."

He pushed off the ground, his strong wings spreading and beating at the air to send him off toward the crashing waves until he vanished as a speck in the distance. Anna turned to the female but she only smiled. "He does love to show off."

"Does he?"

"Usually." The female bowed as well, "I do hope you come."

She lifted off as well, flying into the distance to disappear into the clouds, and Anna watched them until a voice called to her. Not the voices that beckoned to her but John's voice. It broke through the haze of her mind and pulled Anna back to the cottage as she opened her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"I…" Anna's hand reached up to her shoulder and pulled the bandage back to investigate her injury. She covered her mouth with her other hand as she noted a fading handprint there as the wound now formed a scar. "I don't know."

"Did you do that?" John touched at the area and when Anna did not grimace or wince he checked over the area. "I've never seen you heal so quickly."

"I didn't heal this." Anna held up her hands, still bearing the slowly fading burns. "They did."

"Who dd?"

"The creatures like me. The Old Ones."

"Is that what they're calling themselves?"

"It's what I'm calling them." Anna sat up, holding at her side again. "But they want me to come to them."

"Where?"

"The edge of the world." Anna watched John as he took a step back. "What? Does that mean something to you?"

"Morrigan spoke of it. Said it was a place we were never to fly or go." John shuddered, "She was afraid of it. Afraid of what it meant."

"Meant to her?"

"I think so." John let out a breath, "Whatever beings are calling to you, they're powerful enough to frighten a goddess of war."

"They do feel old enough to be a threat." Anna shivered, "The way they speak to me John… It's… It's inciting and almost addictive. Like they could take me over with the song in their voices."

"Like the songs of the trees?"

"In a way but more like…" Anna shivered again, "More like the way Green would speak to me. Like their intentions are concealed in lies."

"So you don't trust them?"

"No." Anna shook her head, "But they might hold the chance to make me whole again. The chance to regain my wings."

"I thought you needed Green to give them back to you."

"Maybe there's another way." Anna pushed herself out of the bed and almost reached for her staff but stopped herself. "We'll go there together."

"You're taking me with you?"

"Of course." Anna paused, biting at her lip. "They know about you."

"They do?"

Anna nodded, "They… They called you my mate."

John snorted his laugh, "Mary said that once too. Said that ravens only fly in duos and that meant you were my other half."

"Yes she did." Anna managed a smile. "Maybe they can help me save Mary as well. Help me take back the curse."

"Would they have the power for that?"

"If the curse is only reversed by something more powerful than what's on earth," Anna shrugged, "Perhaps beings older than the earth are the key to that."

"Then we'll have to take care." John paced the room a moment. "All Morrigan ever said was in the old stories people tell. The rumors about the birth of all life so far north that the water itself freezes when it crashes against rocks."

"They were on a cliff near an ocean."

"Then we'll have to fly north until we can't fly anymore." John's face screwed up a moment. "Morrigan always warned, or threatened I guess, that where it was would be hard to find because we'd lose our way. Our skill at always knowing direction would be lost and we'd die in the confusion."

"Then that's where we'll have to go." Anna checked over herself. "I think I'll need to be something stronger than a dove."

"A raven?" John suggested but Anna shook her head.

"We'll need to be something stronger, both of us will." Anna led them outside, shivering in the chill wind of the spring evening. "What about our young men?"

"They've got themselves positions in the kitchens. It'll give them access to the whole of the castle." John paused, "Should we stay? To make sure they're alright?"

"We've got some time before Mary's birthday." Anna rolled her shoulders, "And the best thing we can do for her now is see if there's another solution. We've done all else we can here."

"Alright."

Anna snapped her fingers and they both took flight a moment later as snowy owls. The weight took them both a bit of time to manage, the flight patterns and motions differing from their normal choices of wing, but they found their way and headed north. Each beat of their wings carried them further and further away, the air getting colder and colder as they went.

Night drew on into day and they stopped to rest for a bit when the sun was highest and snow dusted the ground in billows and blankets on their northern perch. But when they set off again they left land behind to fly into the foaming rolls of the sea. The wind whipped harder, unbroken by land, and beat at them but their heavier bulk and larger wings countered it to rise above the clouds and continue north. Flying farther and farther into the unknown until, as John's old mistress threatened, they lost their ability to steer.

Diving down first, Anna scanned for the location but found herself lost in the endless gray of the wintery sea breaking its waves in shocks of cold. John joined her and they continued in what they thought was the same direction but circles and squiggles and zigzagging motions soon left them exhausted and desperate to find land. Almost dying to find some place they could rest.

Then, as if in answer to their deepest desires, clouds parted and Anna spotted the darkened mass on the horizon. They aimed for it, their weak wins beating as frantically as they could manage to reach the earth. To reach the towering cliffs where they collapsed in a heap of feathers.

Anna barely managed to turn them to their human forms as her limbs quivered and trembled with exhaustion. She dragged herself to John's position, her fingers almost frozen as she touched his skin to see if he still lived. As she did, John's eyes blinking blearily at her, hands landed on Anna's skin. Dragged at her while she thrashed and tried to free herself but only managed to get a look at the large wings covering the forms of those who held her.

Not the black wings of the male or the grey-white wings of the female but brown wings on the one and speckled wings on the other. Two others, one with blues wings dappled with steaks of yellow and the other with red wings streaked with green, pulled John between them and carried him inside. Inside, Anna noted, a large cavern. One that echoed and yawned in blackness until they reached a cave large enough to host a flock of beings with wings almost as large as Anna's had been. All in a multitude of colors and belonging to peoples as different and carried as the wings that could bear them on the wind.

They deposited Anna and John at the base of a dais and Anna moved to protect John. But the others stepped back, silent and waiting. Silent until a steady hoot rang out among them that grew louder and louder to bounce and echo off the walls until two significant thuds hit the dais behind Anna. She turned over her shoulder and noted the male and the female standing there, straightening as they landed before her.

"Welcome Anna." The male extended his hand to her. "We've waited a long time to meet you."

"So you've said." Anna kept herself near John as he slowly regained consciousness. She scanned the flock around them. "What is this place?"

"Our origin." The female motioned around them. "Welcome to the Nest."


	16. Regret of Man

"The Nest?" Anna helped John stand as the rest of the flock watched them, the weight of their eyes keeping her gaze scanning over them. "That's what this is?"

"That's what we call it."

"And why would you call it that?"

The female motioned to the others and they all took to wing, vanishing through a hole in the ceiling of the cave. The beat of their wings drove Anna to the ground through the force of the wind they produced and she held tightly to John as he did the same. The female waited until the gale ceased before continuing. "Because it's where our people, your people, truly began."

Anna shook her head, "My people began at a tree in the Moors."

"Your tribe began there. But life like yours began here." The male stepped forward, bowing to Anna. "It started with us. I am Hugin."

"And I am Munin." The female echoed the bow and Anna almost jumped as John finally spoke from her side.

"Thought and Memory." John swallowed, "Morrigan called you the Ravens of Odin. She said you were his slaves."

"She would say that after we cast her out." Hugin bristled, his wings flaring for a second before calming. "She rejected us and the rules we created to keep the Nest safe. To keep our people, who should have been her people, safe."

Munin put a hand on Hugin's arm, stopping the inevitable second flare of his wings. He took a breath and continued. "Because her rejection of this culture and the rejection of her heritage, she lost her wings as a result."

Munin shook her head. "It's why she took to her flock of crows. And why she spites us by wearing the feathers from her wings as a cloak."

John frowned, "She told me that those were the feathers of her oppressors. Feathers she took when she destroyed them and freed herself."

"She lied to you." Hugin faced John, "Just as she lied to you about what you are. And why she stole you from a flock of ravens to keep as her pet."

"She convinced you that you were one of her crows so she could misuse her powers to control one of our own." Munin turned to John, cocking her head to the side. "She wanted you."

"Why?"

"Because of what you meant to us."

John frowned, "Meant to you?"

Hugin nodded, "You're one of our children, John. Like all the ravens who fly over this earth, you are a child of Hugin and Munin. To work and to serve at our bidding, should the need arise, but otherwise to live as you see fit."

Munin took a step toward Anna, looking between she and John. "Until we sent you to Anna, that is."

"You sent me to Anna?"

Munin nodded, "Why else do you believe you felt the need to circle the field and watch her? Or the desire to join her?"

John's jaw flexed and he glanced toward Anna but she kept her eyes on Thought and Memory. "I thought I was inspired by her."

"And you were." Munin gave a smile to Hugin. "We simply encouraged it."

"And you gave him power too?" Anna watched as Thought and Memory exchanged a look before facing them again. "Did you not?"

"What power?" Hugin stepped forward, "Our ravens have only the powers given to the birds of the sky."

"He has power. I've seen it."

"Perhaps you were mistaken."

Anna shook her head, "It's hard to miss."

Without a word, Hugin stood before Anna and flicked his wrist to bring a swirl of reddish light to his fingers. He put his finger to Anna's forehead and she stepped back at the shock it gave her. "You are as strong as we suspected."

"We're not talking about me." Anna snapped her fingers to bring gold to their tip and went to touch John's shoulder. The silver sheen there gleamed and interacted with her finger until Anna drew back. "I'm talking about that."

"Has he used his power?" Munin stepped forward, blue dancing over her fingers as she went to press her finger to John's forehead. He jerked and stepped back as Anna had while Munin rubbed her fingers together as if to savor the sensation he left on her. "How fascinating."

"Did you give him that power?"

"I did not." Munin put space between she and John, still rubbing her fingers together as the blue sparks danced there.

"Then the Morrigan gave it to him?" Anna pointed to John, "If it's not a gift from you then perhaps a gift from her?"

"No." Hugin shook his head, "She would never give him a gift."

"It's not in her nature." Munin's wings flared a moment, beating a soft breeze between the four. "She can only take now."

Hugin's brow furrowed and he faced Anna, "Perhaps the power came from you. Given how strong you are, it could be your gift to him."

"I didn't give him anything."

"Perhaps not consciously." Hugin walked around her a moment, "But his power is nothing like ours. Like none that our kind has. Something that could only come to you from our ancestors."

"Ancestors?"

Hugin nodded, "The FengHuang or the Phoenix and the Vermilion bird."

"The what?"

"Two birds, from a continent far from here, that gifted power to some of our people for help they gave in a war long before living memory." Munin's face stilled for a moment. "A fight that set the Phoenix and the Dragon as the symbols of that land and made the Vermilion Bird their bird of fire and symbol of the south."

"And I'm descended from them?"

"Your power is." Hugin pointed at John, "Whatever power he has, you gave to him. For we did nothing but inspire him to find you."

"Why?" John spoke again, his voice taking on an edge as if to stand up for himself again against the mutual confusion. "Why did you want me to find Anna?"

"Because the only way we could communicate with her was through you." Hugin nodded at John, "As our progeny you would be our link to her."

"Why not communicate with me directly?" Anna tapped her temple. "You've been sending me visions and speaking with me in my dreams now. Why not before? Why send John to do what you could have done then?"

"He was our conduit." Munin stared at John, raising the hair on the back of Anna's neck. "As a raven he was one of us. As a man… He could reach you."

"And now that we have reached you it's time for you to help us."

"Help you?"

"Yes." Hugin reached for Anna's hand but she withdrew it. "You're what we need to make our people great again."

"I don't know what you mean."

Hugin and Munin only allowed their eyes to meet for a moment but the unease turned Anna's stomach as the hairs on the back of her neck remained raised like hackles. It was Hugin who spoke, after Munin nodded. "It means that you're the last hope our people have."

"Why is that?" Anna's face tightened, "Because you left my people to die until I was the only one left of my kind in the Moors."

"That was unfortunate but they made their choice not to come when we called." Munin held herself higher, the roll in her shoulders almost her physical dismissal of the accusation. "They chose to leave their people."

"And now you want my help?" Anna shook her head, "I've nothing to give you as you've nothing to offer me in return."

"We offered you the chance to be whole." Hugin opened his hands to her, "Is that not enough?"

"Does that mean you'll give me new wings?"

Munin shook her head, "We can't break the laws that demand blood return what blood stole."

Anna narrowed her eyes, "Then you're offering me a chance to break the curse on Mary. The chance to atone for that."

"We cannot break the curse any more than you could." Hugin risked a step toward her but Anna retreated again. "Our offer stands."

"And what, exactly, did you mean by the promise to 'make me whole' since neither of the things that could perform that marvelous bit of magic are within your power to grant?" Anna waited but neither responded, "What did you mean?"

"That you could be among your people again."

"Not a bloody chance." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "I've no interest in living in this Nest, with the rest of you, and hide away from the world."

"We need you, Anna." Munin closed the distance faster than Anna could move away. "You're the only hope our people have of revitalizing our magic."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have hidden yourselves away." Anna looked from Thought to Memory. "I can't help you anyway."

"But you can." Hugin nodded, "You're the only one of your kind left who can perform transformative and transportational magic."

"Transformative magic?"

Hugin pointed to John. "You make your raven a man and yourself a dove, when you wish it."

"And no one else can do that?"

"None anymore." Munin urged Anna to follow her as she circled the cave. Anna peeked at John and he offered her his hand as they followed the other two back to where drawings and paintings covered the wall. Munin pointed to them and Anna stepped closer to study the drawings.

"What are these?"

"The record of our people since our creation." Hugin put his hand to the wall, dragging down it to release a rasping sound. "We used to change so our bodies could become any creature. We shifted form as easily as we breathed."

Anna swallowed and walked along the wall, noting the record merging and moving until she saw when a flock broke away, never to return. Her fingers gently touched the painting before she spoke, her voice low. "And now?"

"Our children forgot as we did." Munin sighed, her arms wrapped around herself as if to keep out a chill. "We were the phoenix, the dragon, the unicorn, the chimera, and lion turtle and a hundred other creatures the world forgot to name."

"And now we are none of them." Hugin's hand on Munin's shoulder brought them to stand like a wall opposite John and Anna. "But you could be our chance to be all of them again."

"How's that?"

"By sharing with us. Staying with us." Hugin pointed and Anna followed it to note the scattered drawings of two magnificent birds visiting the flock that separated. "The FengHuang, or the Phoenix, was the celestial body. Its head was the sky, its eyes were the sun, its back the moon, its wings the wind, its feet the earth, and its tail was the planets. All things of a higher nature were its to behold… And it gave that gift to your people."

"The tree you mentioned," Munin's voice broke Anna's concentration on the images. "It was a gift to your people for their service. It represented the power they inherited for their actions. The virtue and grace of the Phoenix as it united opposite forces to find harmony. Just as the Vermilion Bird gave your people the fire, the Phoenix offered you the gift of being like it is, the ruler of birds."

"As you are destined to be the ruler of our people." Hugin extended his hand to Anna, "If you wish to be whole."

"And would John stay with me here?" Anna eyed the two as their wings fluttered. "Or would I have to spread my gift to this people another way?"

"John is not of our people." Munin's jaw flexed, as if she chose the words that filled her mouth with the utmost care. "He's no longer wholly raven and he's never been fully man. He's not one of us."

"Then I'll have to reject your offer." Anna went to turn away but John stopped her, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"You'll leave all this behind if you reject them now."

"I don't care."

"It could ruin you, to leave the chance to be with your own kind." John drew back, "You'd never have to be lonely again."

"I'm not lonely." Anna took his hand. "I'm with you."

"As I'm with you but I'd…" John bit at the inside of his cheek. "I'd not want you to ruin yourself for me."

Anna put a hand to his face. "The only ruin I recognize, is to be without you."

John smiled and turned into her palm to kiss it. "Give them a chance. Tell them you need to think about it and then decide."

"Only a few days." Anna warned, "No more."

John nodded and they turned together. The squeeze of his hand on hers gave Anna the courage to speak. "I'll think about your offer. We'll remain here until I'm satisfied and then I'll decide."

Hugin and Munin shared a look before Hugin nodded. "You'll have three days to make your decision.

* * *

Mary let her forehead fall onto the pane of glass. She shifted her pose on the window seat before letting her head do it again. About to let her head thump against the glass again to spread the print of her skin on the glass, Mary paused at a sound behind her.

But turning in place, to look on the grand room filled with everything her cottage home never dared hope to have, she saw nothing. Nothing but a flutter from a tapestry against what she thought was a stone wall. She narrowed her eyes and crossed the space to poke at the tapestry.

Instead of hitting a stone wall under the thick hanging, Mary's finger compressed flesh and a voice behind the tapestry cried out. She jumped back as a shuffling scuffle broke out and two bodies hit the stone floor hard. Even with half their frames trapped under the weight of the tapestry she recognized them and wasted no time in hauling them to their feet to hug them both around the neck.

It took both of them gasping for air and shoving at her arms for Mary to draw back and take them both in. "I thought you idiots would never find me."

"How'd you like that?" Branson brushed at himself and straightened his uniform. "We come all this way and she calls us idiots."

"Not like we've not been here a month searching and scouring to find you." Matthew rubbed at his neck and Mary caught sight of his calloused and bruised fingers bearing a lingering redness echoed in Branson's hands. "They trapped us in the kitchens for ages."

"You've been here for a month?" Mary put a hand to her head, "I've been here a month already?"

"You didn't know?" Branson snorted but cut himself short at the expression on Mary's face. "Sorry."

"How could you not know?" Matthew pressed, shoving at Branson so the other man started a survey of the room.

"Every day is the same. I get breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time. Someone takes me blindfolded to a garden somewhere inside the palace for an hour so I can walk around, and then I'm left here." Mary waved a hand at the room around her. "I've already read most of the books I wanted to read, taken apart the toys I think were for my childhood, and then just paced until I wore a patch in the rug."

"Every day?" Branson asked and both Mary and Matthew turned to see him rapping his knuckles along the stone wall. "And you never found that passage?"

"I think it only opens one way because it's invisible on this side." Mary shook her head and turned to Matthew, pulling at her fingers. "Is… Is she here too?"

"Who?"

"My…" Mary cleared her throat, "My Fairy Godmother."

"No." Matthew shook his head and shrugged, "Her raven-man got us the jobs in the kitchen, to keep an eye on you, but-"

"Her what?"

"She's…" Matthew's face flushed a little, "She's got this man-servant or something who turns into a raven at will. He's the one who got us here when we went to the cottage and only found her, not you."

"You went looking for me?" Mary looked from Matthew to Branson, who finished his investigation of the room. "You both came looking for me?"

"It was his bloody idea." Branson pointed at Matthew. "I was just fine assuming you'd died like the last time something weird happened to you but no, he wanted to play the hero and see if you were alright."

"Well I'm not, I'm trapped here and it's hellishly terrible." Mary shook her head, "If you two hadn't shown up I'd either have died of boredom or cracked my head against the glass of the window."

"Really?" Matthew pivoted to inspect the room. "It's not a bad place, all things considered, to have to be imprisoned."

"Better than any prison where my family's been kept." Branson muttered, "Better by far."

"You family's not royalty." Matthew swatted at him before turning back to Mary. "Why not just escape yourself?"

"They've got a twenty-four-hour guard on the door." Mary pointed at the large wooden double doors behind the two. "And no one will speak to me."

"No one?"

Mary shook her head. "All anyone's said is 'yes Princess' and 'no Princess' or grunted noncommittally at me."

"But nothing else?" Mary shook her head and Matthew sighed, "Then we're all in a bit of a bind."

"How'd you mean?"

"Well," Matthew rubbed at the back of his neck, looking to Branson for help but the other man shook his head. "We've had half days, on occasion, from the kitchens. The ones we didn't sped trying to sneak up here through the maze of passageways, we went back to your cottage."

"Why?"

"We'd hoped your aunts would've shown up or maybe we'd find the raven-man your Fairy Godmother keeps around."

Mary's face fell with her whole body, as if gravity dragged her to the floor. "No one's there?"

"No one at all and we can't get into the Moors either so we're…" Branson motioned between himself and Matthew. "We're on our own."

"You've got me now."

"No offense, _Princess_ ," Branson dragged out the word and then dodged Mary's swipe at him. "But you've not exactly been the best about saving your own damn self now have you?"

"I haven't been entirely useless, if that's what you're implying."

"Oh yeah?" Branson nudged Matthew but now Matthew took his turn to try and remove himself from the conversation. "And what's Mary Crawley done trapped in a room bigger and finer than any ten of my relatives ever dreamed of cleaning?"

"This." Mary led them over to a table, stacked high with books, and grabbed an open one to show them. "Does that look familiar?"

Both of them squinted before Matthew nodded. "It looks like… Like that fairy my father used to tell me about. The one my mother claims killed him on the battlefield when the king before Alexander was on the throne."

"That's what I thought too." Mary bit at the inside of her cheek, "My Fairy Godmother once told me a story about how she used to have wings."

"Used to have wings?"

"Yes. Wings as big as these." Mary jabbed her finger at the illustration before laying the book back down. "And I think I know why she's the only one like her in the Moors. Why she's the only one without her wings."

"Like the wings hanging in the throne room?" Branson rolled his shoulder, "Spent hours having to polish that bleeder and it almost put a permanent crick in my shoulder, just so you know."

"Stop whining." Mary looked at Matthew, "What wings?"

"King Alexander's got this set of white wings above his throne. Anyone who knows anything says they're from the fairy he killed to avenge your grandfather. They're what won him the throne and the hand of your mother."

"Are they indeed?" Mary mused a moment before closing the book. "It'd explain the bloodlust in these."

"Blood lust in books?" Branson snorted, "Literature's not much for making things interesting. Even if it is selective royal history."

"They weren't selective in their documented extermination of my Godmother's people." Mary motioned to the other books. "My ancestors have been killing her people for centuries."

"What a legacy." Branson muttered and moved back to the tapestry to draw it back. "We've wasted enough time. We've found you and now we're all going to get the hell out of here before we get ourselves nicked."

"And where do we go?" Mary pointed at herself. "I'm not exactly someone who can just hide anywhere anymore."

"We could go back to your cottage." Matthew suggested but Mary shook her head at him.

"It's the only place I really know and the first place they'd look for me."

"What about my house or his?" Branson leaned against the wall, trapping the tapestry in place behind him. "We've take you in."

"And put your families in danger?" Mary shook her head again. "I don't think that's a good idea. In fact, it's idiotic."

"What about the Moors?" Matthew shrugged at Branson and Mary's confused expressions. "Everyone's terrified of it and if your Fairy Godmother's there then she'll protect you."

"She's not come for me here." Mary shrugged, "I don't think she wants to see me. Not after… Not after what I said to her."

"Then you're forgetting that she put us here."

"Branson's right." Matthew reached for one of Mary's hands. "She'll take you in. I know she will."

"You do?"

"She wouldn't have gone to the trouble of getting us into the castle if she didn't mean to get you out of it." Matthew held his hand open to Mary. "It's your choice but I think you should come with us."

Mary took another second before nodding at them and taking Matthew's hand. With Branson in the lead they hurried down the tight, winding back stairs to emerge in a crooked corridor several floors below. The twists and turns lost Mary almost immediately but Branson and Matthew guided her carefully through them. They hid whenever they heard noises and crammed themselves into crannies and nooks until the coast was clear again. Only then did they venture back into the stone maze to escape the confines of the castle.

One of the passages led to a drainage outlet near the base of the building and the three of them put all their weight into snapping a few of the rusting and worn bars. It left them covered in grime and smelling vaguely of refuse but it worked to their advantage as five steps later had them mingling in a crowd of people wandering back to their homes at the end of the day. They moved carefully, Matthew and Branson working to either shed or reverse the more conspicuous clothing of their castle uniforms. Mary, on the other hand, had to tear off pieces of her dress while also snagging Matthew's jacket to try and hide the finery of her clothing. A process that worked well enough for them and the trio escaped the city and were well toward the countryside when the bells from the castle tolled.

Even then they kept their pace measured. They cut from the main road and into fields, wending their way away from the soldiers pounding over the road to spread to the nearest villages in search of the 'lost princess'. But no one thought to bother three individuals slowly working their way deeper through the fields and into the woods.

There they rid themselves of the clothing they could before tramping deeper. Deep enough that they soon lost themselves in the dusky ever-dimness of the shrouded forest. One they knew well enough to weave and scamper through until they reached an all-too familiar and ever-foreboding wall of impressive thorns.

"Do we knock or shout… something?" Branson craned his head back. "I once tried to climb one of these. Didn't end well for me."

"I can't imagine why not." Mary shook her head and paced a distance before returning. "I've only ever been through here with my Fairy Godmother as my guide. It just… parted for her."

"Maybe it'll part for you." Matthew tugged on Branson's sleeve and the two of them stepped back. "She is your Fairy Godmother."

Mary dry washed her hands, moving one inside the other before finally dropping both to her sides to clench her nails into her palms. With a deep breath she stepped forward toward the wall of thorns. Her eyes squeezed shut, half wondering if the wall might impale her out of spite.

But the wall parted and Mary walked right through the gap. As she turned back to beckon the others through, it wove itself tightly closed again and she huffed. "I don't think it wants to let you in."

"We'll just wait here then. No hurry or anything." Branson's voice, slightly muffled through the thick foliage, called back.

Mary did not grace him with a response and trudged forward.

Night's embrace curled around the sky slower and slower as summer crept toward them but Mary trekked her way through the dark with help from the twinkling lights and the bioluminescent nature of the Moors. The constant sparkle and shine of the magical creatures that lived here bidding her welcome as she found herself near the lakes ringed and dotted with towering cliffs and rock formations reaching toward the sky like questing fingers.

She looked toward the cliff were the tree stuck from the side of the rock but noted no figures standing there. Her feet almost rooted to the spot as she only just began to grasp the possible magnitude of the Moors and the distance she might have to travel before confirming if her Fairy Godmother truly dwelt in its confines. A thought that had her going to sit down before three voices spoke to her.

It startled Mary almost enough to send her into the boggy water near her position but she recovered in time to stop herself tumbling over. Her hand gripped a tree and she sought her balance as three twittering, buzzing figures alighted before her. Their diminutive stature had Mary searching for defining features that might tell her how they knew her name but a moment later each one popped and grew to the size of a normal woman and Mary almost threw her arms around them.

"Phyllis, Elsie, Beryl! It's so wonderful to see you." Her arms tightened around them much the same way that they had around Branson and Matthew with roughly the same effect. The three women hurried to escape her hold and Mary took a step back to look at them. "I was so hoping I'd find you here."

"After they booted us from the castle there was nowhere else to go." The one in the middle, with an accent thicker than the wall of thorns and a face more lined that either of the other's. "We returned home and found it much quieter than we remembered but… It's home."

"You didn't go back to the cottage?"

"And do what?" The shortest of the three, her red-orange hair still catching in the light. "Go back to scrubbing floors and cleaning… Not likely."

"Our work there was done, we had no reason to go back." The tallest, and thinnest, of the three spoke last. "This is where we belong anyway."

"Then…" Mary pulled at her fingers, "Then you'll 've seen my Fairy Godmother. She'll be here too… Yes?"

The three women looked at one another before the middle one spoke again. "I'm afraid, Mary, no one's seen Anna in over a month."

"Elsie's right." The shortest of them cut in again. "Ever since she collapsed attacking that iron carriage they had you in, no one's seen her."

"Matthew and Branson said she was at the cottage but…" Mary dry washed her hands again. "Did she leave?"

"Who knows where she's gone and wherever she has gone, I hope she stays there and stops making trouble." Elsie shuddered, "If we want peace then her not being here is the best way to have it."

"Elsie-" The shortest tried to cut in.

"Beryl, you know I'm right."

"But…" Mary flustered, "How come she didn't come find me? She seemed so determined to get me out of the carriage and yet… Nothing."

"Perhaps it killed her."

"Phyllis!" The other two tried to hush her but Mary ignored then and took the tallest by the hand.

"What do you mean?"

"The carriage. It was just made of iron and any fairy could open an iron carriage." Phyllis bit her lip. "But… When we were at the palace we confirmed it, so it's not just our speculation-"

"What?!"

"They've treated the metal with the sap from the mistletoe branch. On its own the sap only causes lethargy. When boiled in water or added to wine it can have… deleterious effects on the smaller of the pixies and sprites but also cause the larger of the Fair Folk to suffer incoherence, hallucinations, and even unconsciousness that could lead to death." Phyllis shrugged, "She tried so hard to free you… It's possible that she did not survive the attempt."

"Then I killed her?"

"No, dear." Elsie took Mary's hands, forcing her to meet the pixie's gaze. "She tried to save you… Much to all of our surprise. Whatever else happened was her choice, not yours. And… It's not the least of our worries."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever power allowed your… people, to discover how to treat that carriage so we couldn't penetrate it, they're doing the same to the wall."

"She's right." Beryl, twisting her fingers and tugging at her hands in a manner Mary most often copied, stepped forward. "They've started treating parts of the thorn wall with the sap. It's receding and melting. Given enough time, they could bring the whole wall down around us."

"For what purpose?" Mary nodded at the Moors. "There's nothing here."

"The greed of Man won't allow them to believe that." Elsie released Mary's hands. "It's a war we've been fighting our entire lives."

"Then it's a war I'll stop." Mary pointed to the wall. "If I can step through the wall then I can keep it up. I'm a princess now and I've got to have some powers."

"Not in this." Elsie shook her head, "Your father and Anna have… They've been fighting for a long time."

"Then he'll need to stop fighting her." Mary nodded at the three women. "Wish me luck."

She left them, walking back to rejoin Matthew and Branson. But when she reached them both were bound and gagged. Before Mary could attempt to run back into the Moors or even in any other direction, the wall of thorns sealed and soldiers grabbed her arms.

"Your father's been worrying about your Princess."


	17. Defenders of the Moors

Anna stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down at the warren of impossible tunnels and spaces that held every biome and clime known in the world. She watched the wings of her kind in all colors and shapes and sizes soar through the space as they went about their business. All of it was dizzying and wonderful and addicting and… Wrong.

She rubbed at her chest, the persistent feeling beating at her that she did not belong and, for as much as she wished it, these were not her people. Her hands dropped to her sides before she crossed them over her chest so her fingers could delicately trace the raised stubs of her wingbones. After a moment she dropped her hands again and folded her arms tightly over her chest to walk the edge of the cliff.

A soft croak drew her attention to John as he landed softly on a tree branch hanging over the edge of the cliff. Anna smiled and flicked her fingers so as John jumped for the more solid ground he landed on two legs. He dusted at himself and Anna turned to face him.

"What've you found?"

"They're not the nicest of people and none of them really speak when they see me." John shrugged, "I haven't seen any other creatures here so I think they all know what and who I am. It… It keeps them quiet."

"Not that I suspected we'd find much." Anna turned back to the edge of the cliff, watching her soaring cousins. "I just hoped we'd get more from our hosts."

"They've been very tight-lipped about all of this."

"Given their rather dramatic introduction I did expect a bit more." Anna held her arms over her chest, fingers flexing in the fabric of her dress. "Something more than a new place to be a pariah."

"I do not think you can be a pariah if they have not recognized our presence since Hugin and Munin sent them away when we arrived."

"They've not even tried to peek at me." Anna sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "They don't think I'm one of them."

"More fools them." John joined her, gazing down into the bowl. "They're beautiful to watch."

"They're what I was." Anna's fingers flexed and she almost reached back to touch her wingbones again. "I used to fly like that."

"I saw you fly like that once." John whispered and Anna gave a little smile. "I hope to see you fly like that again."

"That won't happen." Anna took a deep breath, keeping her eyes closed. "They're not what I am anymore and they can't make me what I was. They've already told me they can't help me. I'm nothing better here than I was in the Moors."

"Then we can go back to the Moors." John reached for her hand. "We can go back and leave this place. We don't belong here."

"Do we belong there?" Anna interlaced her fingers with his. "Do we belong anywhere, really?"

"I think," John kissed her knuckles. "I belong wherever you are."

"Even if they're the ones who sent you to me?"

"I don't give two shits about where they think they sent me."

Anna tucked herself into John's side, holding him. "This place just confuses me. It… It's made me question everything."

"Then," John kissed the top of her head before tracing his lips lower toward her ear. "I can answer at least one of those questions."

"Which one is that?" Anna's voice, barely audible to her ears, hitched when John's kisses moved down her cheeks to trace the tracks of the few tears that slipped there.

"Whether I belong with you." John paused, his lips ghosting over Anna's neck and back to her ear. "I hope you don't mind if we're loud."

"I don't care about them." Anna's fingers tightened in John's shirt, pulling him toward her so their bodies aligned. "I only want you."

"There," John moved back so his lips almost landed on hers. "One question answered. Now only a thousand more."

Anna's hand clapped over the back of John's neck and dragged his lips to hers. His hands firmed at her hips and maneuvered them away from the edge to lay Anna on the ground. It only took a moment for her to try and wrap her legs over his hips, to hold him closer, to gyrate into him as their bodies responded together.

Her hair caught in her dress but Anna twisted her head to tug herself free of the confines of the fabric. John tossed it away before they threw his shirt after it. Anna's nails dug into the muscles of John's back, holding him close, and pressed her lips to any piece of skin she could reach as John struggled to free them of their remaining clothes completely. An act that left Anna relaxing her legs as if to bring John closer to her.

But John drew back, his kisses dotting her face while his hands smoothed over her skin until he found her breasts and hips. While his lips electrified her with each motion, John's hand attempted to soothe the flickering embers he encouraged. They muffled their sounds but even the biting at their lips or burying their moans in the skin of the other their noise echoed about them.

Anna's fingers grazed over John's skin as he moved lower, pressing kisses to her as if relearning her by touch. A touch that left Anna writhing under him as her legs continually bent and flexed in time with her fingers on his shoulders and in his hair as if it would solve the aching desire running like fire under her skin. John only encouraged it as his lips moved over her breasts and then down her abdomen. And when he nipped above her clit Anna noted the shine of silver over his skin.

Once he lowered his head, all Anna could do was hold tightly to his scalp. The rasp of his tongue on her, the sucking motion over her swelling folds, and the swipe of his fingers into her left Anna's back arching and her voice rising. She could not suppress the noise and did not want to as John guided her to the edge and allowed her to fall over with a solid suck on her clit.

Her back hit the ground hard enough to drive some of the air she so desperately needed from her body. A body John kissed his way back up before pausing at Anna's lips. Flailing fingers and weaker hands grasped at him, tugging with all the energy she could muster to bring his lips to hers.

Anna lost herself in his kiss. Lost herself in tasting over them and swirling her tongue with his. Lost herself until she gained the energy to attempt bringing John toward her. Her leg wrapping his hip almost proved the seduction she needed until John's hips pulled back. He only answered her confusion with a kiss before lifting himself onto his arms above her.

"I want to answer another question for you."

"What question?" Anna's fingers tried to dig into his sides, urge him closer, but John remained stalwart above her.

"Whether mounting is different." John's grin had Anna swinging an arm around his neck to bring herself up so she could kiss him hard.

Their teeth almost clacked and they fumbled but John maneuvered them so Anna landed on her hands and knees. Her fingers flexed and dug into the earth as a golden sheen took over her fingers. When John's hand landed over hers, caressing her skin, she noted the silver there and shivered at the sensation of his weight settling over her. His voice whispered near her ear as he nipped at the lobe.

"Does this feel right to you?"

"Yes." Anna breathed, arching back into him and rubbing her ass firmly against John's arousal. "Don't make me wait any longer."

"No?" He teased, his kisses moving back down her neck and back to her shoulders before tracing over her spine while his hips jerked to continue the taunt her rubbing motions started. "Waiting makes it worth it."

"Please?" Anna's fingers intertwined with his as the sensation of his other hand landing on her hips tingled over her skin.

"Your wish, mistress," John breathed over her ear as he carefully positioned himself behind her, "Is my command."

He thrust forward in a single motion and Anna's neck arched back. The kisses John dappled over her skin left her exposed to him but Anna could only focus on the firm hold of him on her hip and the tight clench of her muscles around him. Their position forced every movement to stroke and thrum across her nerves until she dropped to the weight of her forearms for better balance.

Now draped over her back, John's kisses shifted further down her back before biting gently at the rise of her ass. Anna pressed her forehead to the ground and noted the thickening of the grass under her fingers with each thrust John pressed into her. They gyrated together as the slick slap of their skin echoed and reverberated over the yawning expanse of the Nest. But the growl from John's throat and the keening whimpers from Anna covered them to leave an odd duet of the two as they ground and rocked faster and closer to one another.

Anna lifted herself, glancing over her shoulder as John's massaging hands moved from her back to her sides to her breasts and then to her hips to hold her in place as his pace increased to almost force the air from her lungs with the punishing pound of his motions. Motions that snapped his hips to her ass and left her thrusting back against him for more. Left her desperate to take him deeper, faster, harder until they combusted together.

John's form almost glowed with the silvery light that mixed and merged with hers. The essence of it tickling over Anna's skin to stoke the fire rushing in her veins until the desire beat a tattoo in her ears. A tattoo she ended with a sharp cry when John's fingers pinched and pressed at her clit.

Her shuddering shake left her like clay in John's hands as he finished. Finished and sought to bring her back to the edge with the slight encouragement of his fingers. The final stutters of his body forcing the echoes of her climax to surge into a lighter, gentler feeling before she joined him in pleasure.

They almost collapsed together, only John's dexterity keeping them from landing in an unceremonious heap. He adjusted them, holding Anna close with her back to his chest as they trembled and quivered together while their bodies settled in an attempt to come down from their high. A high that kept the shine to their skin and left the silver and gold of their respective magics crackling and fizzing as they stroked over one another.

Anna rolled to face John, staying on her side so she could trace his skin and see his face. She barely noted the growth of the grass and the shining flowers springing about them before returning to running her fingers over John's chest. Through the hair there that she stroked into a pattern like the feathers on his back when he perched on her shoulder.

"Thank you." She whispered, pressing a kiss above his heart before meeting his eyes. "For answering those questions for me."

"I'd answer them all again if you needed."

"I know." Anna sighed, "I don't deserve you."

"Perhaps, as we've discussed before," John grinned as he kissed her forehead. "It's not about deserve."

"Perhaps not." Anna let her fingers trace whorls in his hair, disrupting it before settling it into another pattern. "But I know I want you and, if I stay here, I don't think they'll allow me to keep you."

"Unless I'm a pet." John grumbled, "And I don't think I'm that for you."

"Far from." Anna let her fingers trail over his arm. "But I know I belong with you more than I belong with them."

"They could be your people again, if you wanted them to."

"No," Anna shook her head. "I'm not like them without my wings. I could never be one of them and I think they know that."

"What makes you say that?"

"They're down there and I'm up here." Anna smiled at him, "We're up here."

"What if," John lifted himself to sit up against a root and Anna followed to lean on his shoulder. "Our hosts are the ones keeping them away?"

"I'll make no comments as to the intentions of our hosts." Anna pulled her legs up, twisting to put them over John's so she could play with the hair by his ears. "I only know that I think they want to see what we'll do."

"And what will we do?"

"Nothing." Anna waved her hand at the expanse before them. "We've nothing to do here because we don't belong here."

"I thought you wanted to belong here?"

"No," Anna shook her head, distracting herself for a moment in John's hair. "I don't think I did want to belong here. It's not home."

"But that's not all." John turned his head to look at her, his fingers tangling in the trailing ends of her hair. "There's something else, isn't there?"

"It feels wrong here."

"Wrong?"

Anna nodded, "I don't know how to explain it but…"

"Maybe it can't be explained because it is wrong."

Anna laid her head on his shoulder, her arm wrapping his chest to hold herself closer to him. "It shouldn't be wrong here. As you said, these are my people and I should want to be here but I don't."

"You've said you don't think this is home so perhaps that is what feels wrong." John let his fingers run down her arm to interlock with hers. "They should be your people but they're not."

"They're not who I am anymore, it's true." Anna gave a little laugh. "If I met them seventeen years ago, I might've stayed here and none of this would've happened. I wouldn't be who I am now."

"And I wouldn't be here either."

"I'd be the worse for it." Anna took a breath, "But I'd avoid so much pain."

"You wouldn't be who you are."

"No, I wouldn't." Anna gazed out into the expanse again. "But, maybe, I'd feel like I belonged here."

John tightened his fingers with hers. "They're not your people, Anna."

"I know." Anna shook her head against him, "They've not been my people for a long time. A longer time than even my pain."

"Are you still… In pain?"

"I think I'll always be in a little pain." Anna sighed, adjusting to get more comfortable on John's lap. "But, I heard once, that if you never heal from what hurry you then you'll bleed on people who didn't cut you."

"Truly." John's fingers moved up Anna's hair, drawing his fingers down the length of it. "But I think you're better now."

"I've bled over so many people John." Anna leaned against him, her eyes closing to try and stop her tears. "I've let my hurt wound so many people."

"We'll always hurt a few people, that's what we risk when we love." John wiped his thumb around her eyes to try and take away her tears. "But it's not who you are anymore. Just like you're not them you're not who you were either."

"I'm not one of them, that's for sure." Anna moved her legs, sitting beside John and wiping at her eyes as well. "Not since my ancestral flock flew away from this place and chose the Moors."

"Perhaps they felt this place was wrong for them too."

"Maybe." Anna turned to him, "Why do you think they left?"

John was silent for a few moments longer than Anna expected and his answer threw her even further. "I know why I'd leave."

"You do?"

"This place rubs me the wrong way and I feel it here." He tapped his chest and Anna echoed the motion.

"What way does it rub wrong for you?"

"It's…" John's jaw flexed, "Time is wrong here."

"Time is wrong?"

"I can't explain it better than that." John shrugged, "Time is just wrong here."

"How'd you know?"

John adjusted so he sat opposite her, folding his legs like a pretzel. "As a bird I follow the seasons. They're as much a part of my nature as my feathers or my beak. They are… Inside me. They beat with my heart and I follow their calls. I can tell the way they change like they tick inside my very body."

"And?"

"Here they don't."

"Hence, 'time is wrong', yes?"

"Yes." John brought his hands up, gesticulating with them as he spoke. "In the two days we've been here it's felt like more time than that passed. Like it's not two days but two months. Like we missed Spring by being here."

"Missed Spring?" Ann shook her head. "That's impossible, how could we miss Spring? It was barely gone winter when we left."

"And yet I feel like Summer is here already." John shook his head, "It makes no sense. That's why it feels wrong."

"Because Time is wrong?"

"Thought and Memory exist out of Time." Anna and John stood in a hurry, Anna snatching for her clothes as John did the same at the sudden landing of Hugin and Munin. Hugin spoke as they made themselves presentable again. "This place exists outside of Time because we exist outside of Time."

"How is that possible?" Anna moved to stand next to John.

"You ask that when you can split space to cross from one point to the other in a matter of moments?" Munin nodded at Anna, whose mouth opened slightly. "We exist in that space you cross. The space between spaces."

"Then Time runs on without us?" John suggested, looking to Anna and she noted the fear in his eyes probably reflected in her own. "It's ticking and we're trapped between the seconds?"

"More like at intervals." Hugin shrugged, "These were the things we hoped to teach you here. The powers we could unlock in Anna and, hopefully, in ourselves now that she could offer us the power to do so."

"And you didn't tell us that staying here would put our world at risk?" Anna stepped toward them, gold sparking green on her fingers. "That you'd put the Moors at risk? Put Mary at risk?"

"We're here to protect our people and we'll do whatever is necessary to ensure their survival." Munin held herself taller. "Surely you'd understand that, being alone as you are."

Anna bristled but tried to keep her temper. She held eye contact with Hugin and Munin but spoke to John. "We're leaving John. Mary needs us and we've wasted too much time here as it is."

"You cannot leave." Hugin's shoulders rolled back and Anna noted the gathering flocks behind him, the flapping echoing and rising to an almost interminable level. "If you do then the sanctity of the Nest could be compromised."

"What a pity since I neither care if the world knows of your existence or that you'll have to face the consequence of your chronic isolationism." Anna turned to John, "We're going."

"I think not." Hugin stepped forward and Anna saw the flocks spread into a cover over their section of cliff. "We'll not risk the safety of the Nest."

"I'm not one to tell a secret so as long as I'm alive, your secrets are safe with me." Anna shook her head, "Not that you've given me many to keep."

"You cannot leave." Munin joined Hugin and Anna saw the color lancing over their hands. "Not even for your human."

"She needs me." Anna reached for John's hand, holding it tightly as he joined her, and watched their colors fuse and snap as he silver on John echoed purple the way her gold echoed green. "And I'll not leave her to die."

"She's suffering as you wanted her too."

"She's suffering as she's not meant to." Anna stood taller. "And she's suffered long enough at my hands."

"She's a human." Hugin protested and Anna heard the echoing cries of agreement from the flapping cacophony above her. "You think that saving her will save you?"

"It's not about her."

"But it is." Munin insisted, her hand motioning to the opening of the cave. "We're here because humans drove us here. Because they always want to take what they can't have or eliminate what they don't understand."

"Then perhaps we need to show them a better way." Anna held her ground. "It is our job to protect nature and that means we've got to show them how to do it. They've got the innovation and the creativity to do it and we can help them. Mary could help them."

"They don't deserve our help." Munin insisted, Hugin nodding with her.

Anna glanced at John and he smiled at her. "It's not about deserve."

"You can't leave." Hugin's wings flared and the red dancing over his fingers encouraged a rise of green and gold on Anna's.

"You're not going to stop me."

"And what will you do?" Hugin snorted at her. "Fight me on this tiny patch of ground? Try to free yourself as tiny birds?"

"I intend to do more than that." Anna released John's hand, "Because I can do what you can't. I've more power than you."

"You've barely scratched the surface of what you can do." Munin pointed at herself and Hugin. "You can't possibly understand what we're capable of."

"But I know what I'm capable of." Anna closed her eyes and spread her arms wide. Her mind cleared and in a moment she rose higher than then all. A roar echoed around the Nest and all those formerly holding their positions above her scattered in a second.

Scattered in the presence of an albino dragon.

Anna stretched her wings and beat the air, sending the weaker of the flock tumbling and tipping through the air before they could recover. She snorted a blast of steam at others, sending them spinning and spreading away from her so she could turn her attention to Hugin and Munin. Lowering her elongated snout, Anna eyed the two of them. Another snort left them both shuddering slightly as a blink of fire escaping from her nostrils.

Shrinking her size, Anna returned to the ground and walked to Hugin and Munin. "Are you going to attempt to keep us here?"

When neither responded, Anna turned to John. "We'll be off now."

A snap of her fingers left them both as artic eagles and they swooped once before soaring upward to leave the Nest.


	18. Forgiveness of Men

Anna changed into her human form and stumbled forward, catching herself on a tree before snapping her fingers to change John from an eagle to a human. He landed on his knees and, when Anna tried to walk, she barely caught herself before she landed on her ass. They both heaved for breath to try and settle the fierce beat of their hearts before Anna tried to speak.

"We've got to keep going."

"Anna," John put a hand on her arm, keeping her from rising. "We need to rest. We'll be no good if we arrive dead on our feet."

"And if she's already dead?" Anna went to rise again but her legs shook so much she barely stopped herself collapsing as they folded under her. "If she's already… I've failed her again."

"You've not failed her."

"I failed her the moment I cast that curse on a helpless child. The moment I…" Anna dry washed her hands, "The moment I bled over someone who never did me any harm. I failed her, John."

"You've not failed her until you've given up trying to help her." John scooted over the ground toward her, taking Anna's hands with his. "And we've all bled on those who never hurt us."

"What if…" Anna stopped herself, trying to find the breath to speak but also the energy to push past the threatening lump in her throat. "What if she thinks I abandoned her?"

"Then we'd best hope that Branson and Matthew found her." John took a deep breath, "And that King Alexander really did fulfill on his threat to have all the spinning wheels in the kingdom burned."

"We saw the smoke." Anna shook her head, "But it won't matter."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because magic finds a way." Anna stood, her legs shaking a second before she stabilized. " _No power on earth can change it_ … That means that it'll come to pass unless something more powerful than me stops it."

"If what Hugin and Munin said was true," John pushed himself to stand as well and they hobbled for a stretch as they worked to steady their pace. "Then there aren't any in the world as powerful as you."

"More's the pity."

"I don't know. I can't imagine I could handle another woman who could turn into a dragon flying around the world." John risked a smile and refused to do more than shrink it at Anna's no-nonsense expression.

"It was a foolish display." Anna shook her head, bending on trembling legs to pick up a stick from the ground. "It sapped too much of my strength."

"It got us out of the Nest without a fight." John waited, leaning on a tree as Anna extended the branch in her hand to recreate her staff. "Imagine what it would've been like for you to have to fight us out of there. Or worse, to risk injuring the last of your people."

"Fear is a great motivator." Anna handed another stick to John as it elongated into a crutch for him. "So you don't fall over."

"Are we just going to pass through one of your schisms?" John nodded at the air before them as Anna stood, holding tightly to her staff. "I'd assume that we're far enough away from the Nest that you can get us back to the Moors in a single step."

"Now that we're on solid land and not removed from time, yes." Anna sighed, leaning on her staff before lowering herself to a root to sit. "But I've not got the strength. We'll… We'll have to wait here until I can do a bit more."

"What if…" John's voice wavered and then died.

Anna turned to him, barely mustering the energy for a frown. "What if what?"

"What if we tried it together?"

"How'd you mean?"

John held up his hand, "If you can make me glow silver or whatever that means, then maybe we can create one of those schisms between us. We can be strong enough to do it together."

"Maybe." Anna worked herself to her feet and limped to where John stood as well. "Give me your hand."

John extended his hand to her and Anna flexed her fingers over his palm. At first nothing happened but as she brought a flicker of gold to her fingers, the weak spark dancing in the space between them like an ember doing its best not to die out, his hand fluttered silver. Bringing a flare of green to her fingers, Anna touched John's palm and noted the flash of purple that joined his silver before she gripped hard at his hand.

Her staff touched air and it split into a jagged line before them, the air itself shimmering and shuddering as it yawned blackness. Anna took a deep breath and stepped into the void, John's hand grasped tightly in hers, to cross the distance between them and their destination. In a second the clearing where they landed was empty and the rift sealed itself behind them.

* * *

Mary rubbed her finger with her thumb, pulling at the skin glowing with golden veins now fizzing into her blood. The constant itch refused to dissipate as she glanced over all those gathered in the Great Hall. They exchanged drinks and small talk around her without inviting her to join them. Even if they were all gathered to celebrate what they had called her birthday with an obnoxiously large cake no one dared touch.

She stood from her chair and those around her hushed their conversations until she passed. It was almost like moving through a fog of bees as the general cacophony of noise echoed and buzzed about her in a general sense but muffled and hissed when she came near. The effect left her isolated in a room of hundreds who all bowed their heads in obeisance to her but lacked further displays of their professed veneration.

In other circumstances she might not have minded but they eyed her like a display piece in the midst of marvelous gifts she did not need or want and most of which she could not hope to name. All of it formed a tight wall of suffocating presence about her that had Mary sneaking glances toward the window and the freeing sensation of the woods just beyond her view. A view restricted often by the phalanx of guards always keeping watch over her while claiming her protection.

The same guards that now made it impossible to sneak away. Even if only to the room where they trapped her so often. The room where they said she would be safe from the curse and the Evil Fairy who cast it.

Mary wove between the strangers others considered her guests and found a place by the window. Smudges in the distance wavered in the whorls of the glass and she put her fingers toward the smudges. The tall cliffs of the Moors from the distance and height of the castle were nothing but suggested shapes on the horizon. But they were more home than the stone walls that now constituted the finest and grandest of prisons.

Risking streaking the glass with her fingers, Mary almost caressed the hint of distant shapes before rubbing her finger again. The itch persisted, deepening now almost to her bones, and Mary rubbed the digit furiously against the material of her dress before turning with the rest of the guests as the King entered. The King who sought through the crowd for her before extending a hand in offering.

But Mary knew what that hand meant. Knew the offering, the appearance of acceptance and invitation to his "lost daughter" was an order. A command that kept them separate except when tradition demanded they be in the same room at the same time. Except when events like this demanded he prove to the people that he was King and Mary his princess.

She crossed the distance, walking like Moses as the crowd separated around her, and took his hand. Struggling to suppress a flinch at his eternally cold hands, Mary noted a faint smell from them. A smell she barely recognized when the King first took her hand but as her nighttime wanderings of the castle taught her more about the goings-on of the people who lived and worked about her, Mary now recognized the scent. Recognized it from the carriage that brought her to the castle in the first place and possibly killed her Fairy Godmother.

The King rubbed his hands in the oily sap of the mistletoe flower.

Mary kept her fingers light on his hand, refusing to soak any of the glowing sheen onto her skin, and flinched as her golden finger touched his palm. She flicked it out at an odd angle and noticed the angry red barely subsiding on her injury. The moment of soothing influence only brought the unbearable itch back with greater force a second later and Mary bit hard at the back of her jaw to stop herself wincing in front of the guests lined around the King's ascent to his throne.

The throne below the magnificent pair of wings.

Taking the seat he bid her, Mary sat as far back as she could and waited through whatever speech she only half heard from the King before the congregation before them milled between the buffet tables groaning with food that would inevitably waste before them. Her jaw tightened and her teeth almost ached at the effort to keep herself scowling at those oblivious to the work and effort put into the displays before them as they picked and frittered over the delicacies before casting them aside. A task so difficult that it took the weight of a hand on her arm to bring Mary from her systematic catalogue of decadence in the room.

She tried not to jump as she noticed the King leaned toward her. "And how have you liked your party?"

"It is very generous of you." Mary swallowed hard, trying to moisten her suddenly dry and swollen tongue. "Far more grand than what I'm used to having."

"I'd imagine those three idiots in the woods gave you sticks to play with as a child and rocks to build around them."

"They cared for me as best they could." Mary nodded, stretching a bland smile over her tight jaw to bring another kind of ache to her face while temporarily distracting from the pinpricks of pain in her finger. "They never let on how grand the castle is, though. I imagine they hoped it wouldn't lead to vanity."

"It was for your protection." The King sat back, whatever attempt at geniality in his face immediately succumbing to a kind of roiling rage he barely suppressed as a tick in his cheek muscle. "There are those out there who'd hurt you."

"They told me about the Evil Fairy that cursed me." Mary kept her finger concealed, rubbing as surreptitiously as she could against her leg to suppress the prickling tingle. "They said there was… bad blood between our house and hers."

"She doesn't have a house." The King's voice clipped. "She's the last of her kind and, when she dies, it'll be good riddance to the bitch."

"I see." Mary flexed her jaw, pinching her finger to try and stop the burn. "And you got your revenge on her?"

"I built this kingdom on her wings." He pointed above them. "I took those from her and she came here, at your Christening, on bended knee to beg and plead for them back."

"And you refused her?"

"Of course not." The King faced her, reaching for Mary's hand again and her curled her finger back to avoid the sting of the mistletoe coating his skin. "I offered her the wings but when I tried to get them she lashed out and cursed you."

"Just like that?"

"She was a manipulative bint." The King settled back. "It was an act. She only ever meant to hurt me. To hurt us."

"Why would she want to hurt us?" Mary pressed and startled back when the King's fist impacted the arm of his throne. The music and the chattering paused for only a moment before they continued under the sour scowl of the King. Mary swallowed and adjusted to face forward again, burying her twitching hand under her thigh. "I apologize Your Grace. I did not mean to offend."

"It's…" He shook his head. "She's gone and we've no reason to worry over her. She can't hurt us here."

Mary flexed her jaw, swallowing hard before speaking. "Your Grace, might I be excused?"

"From your own party?"

"It's…" Mary made a show of crossing her legs and grimacing. "A more serious issue than that."

He frowned and then widened his eyes before snapping for two guards. "Hurry back. The festivities are about to start."

Mary bit her tongue to stop herself asking what the hell the last two hours was if the festivities had not even begun. Managing a smile that she wrangled from her grimace, Mary followed to the two guards as they escorted her toward the lavatory. One located near the Great Hall and, conveniently enough, with a back exit behind a store cupboard. The same exit she used once she firmly jammed the door closed and slipped into the maze of passages between the walls of the building.

The ache in her finger numbed it now, spreading up her arm. Even through the thick material of her dress Mary noted the sparkling gold now veining through her skin. And, if she squinted, Mary thought she noted slips of green practically radiating from her skin.

She shoved it all aside and slipped sideways through a narrow turn to descend a wrapping set of stairs. The ones that wound her lower and lower with each step until the chill breeze mixed with a rank smell of moldering damp and fetid wetness. Mary coughed and covered her nose with her sleeve before wandering toward one of the beckoning doors.

Guards lined the hall and Mary timed her escape to get herself around their patrol to sneak into the closer cells in the dungeon. The cell where two voices echoed back and forth to one another in an almost bored complacency. The same cell where Mary pushed herself onto her toes to peek through the barred window before hissing at the occupants.

"Are you going to wait around all day?"

Matthew and Branson almost fell off their wooden benches in surprise. Branson beat Matthew to the door but being the taller of the two, Matthew managed to get his face into the breach. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get you two out."

"Took you long enough." Branson goaded through the door and Mary risked banging the side of her hand on it.

She hissed as the strike sent tremors through the golden veins to accelerate the speed of the spread before exacerbating the sting in her muscles. Holding her arm to her chest, Mary found the lock and pulled two of the myriad of pins from her hair to shove into the catch. A few careful clicks, and an almost snarl to keep the complaining boys quiet so she could concentrate, Mary opened the lock and ushered the two into the space.

Both went to speak at the same time but stopped themselves at the sight of Mary's arm. Branson's jaw dropped and Matthew recovered first. "What's wrong?"

"It's just my birthday, isn't it?" Mary held up her practically glowing appendage. "It gets more painful by the moment."

"I thought the curse needed you to prick your finger on a spinning wheel." Branson shrugged, "They were all burned ages ago."

"How'd you know that?"

"Because they're outlawed. My mother taught all of us to spin wool using water wheels before it's all we had to try and spool out the carded material." Branson shrugged, "Whatever you're supposed to do about that True Love's kiss nonsense won't be happening if you've got nothing on which to prick your finger."

"I doubt the curse'll just dissipate and give up because it's not got a convenient spinning wheel." Mary snarked and turned to Matthew. "But that's for later. I need to get you two out of here."

"What about you?" Matthew pointed toward her arm, "That doesn't look like it's just going away."

"It's not and it's spreading and the pain increases." Mary gritted her teeth, "It's like fire up my arm. And the longer it goes the more I think I'll wish for death rather than have to deal with this."

"Maybe that's the point?" Branson offered and failed to dodge Matthew's nudged elbow. "Regardless of what's wrong with her arm, she's right. We can't stay here and there's not spinning wheel down here so we can't help her from this place anyway. We've got to get her out of here."

"And go where?" Matthew bundled Mary close and they all lowered their voices as they snuck back into the corridor, avoiding the guards as they went.

"Back to the Moors?" Branson offered. "The wall parted for her before. This time she'll just have to stay on the other side and we'll scarper off."

"And leave her to die while her body slowly infects with this gold poison?"

"If she's King Midas then she'll be kind enough to help a few of the poorer folk on her way to the grave." Branson dipped under Mary's other arm to help Matthew steer her into the passages, walking sideways in an odd six-legged race. "And if not… She'll be better off in the Moors than rotting away in this place."

"Branson's right." Mary winced as her arm jostled around a turn and the golden glow took over her shoulder. "Get me to the Moors. It's the only place I'll be safe. The only place they can't keep me hostage."

"You could die there."

"Better there than here."

"Mary…" Matthew huffed in frustration, looking around Mary to Branson. "Why'd you have to suggest death?"

"It's better than pricking her bloody finger and having to wait for True Love's Kiss." Branson glanced at Mary, "Unless you're betting one of us'll kiss you."

"Not bloody likely I'm sure." She managed a smile but pulled them to a halt at shouting noises in the corridors. "Hurry, this way."

They worked themselves into a back passage and out into a tiny room. An office or a storeroom of some kind that held the air of something forgotten and misplaced amid the business and bustle of the castle. Matthew dragged Mary over to half-covered chaise lounge with a broken leg while Branson shut the door behind them and dragged a sizable cabinet in front of it to block any potential intruders from that direction. He turned back and Mary noted the expression on his face.

"That bad eh?" She tried to laugh but the pain lanced to her chest as the numbness in her arm followed the slow path already begun by the golden sleeve now edging to cover her body. "This could kill me."

"What if it won't?" Matthew suggested and his mouth opened as if to say something else but he stopped and Mary watched his eyes widen.

"What?" She turned, still holding her limp and useless appendage to her chest as Matthew moved behind her to drag something from the broken furniture and bric-a-brac scattered about the room. "What'd you…"

The three of them silenced as Matthew stepped away from a damaged but still recognizable spinning wheel. Branson's hand went over his mouth as Mary just gawked at the item. "I've only ever seen them in books."

"I've not seen one since the soldiers demanded my mother toss hers into the fire." Branson reached forward a finger, sending the wheel spinning. "All those hours carding and pulling wool… A fraction of the time this."

"That's not…" Matthew just shook his head before darting in front of Mary who, without realizing she did it, stood and walked toward it. "No, Mary, don't."

"I have to." She tried to move past him but Branson joined Matthew in wrestling Mary back to the chaise lounge. "It's the only way."

"We've getting you to the Moors and that's the end of the discussion." Branson shook his head, keeping his hands on Mary's knees to keep her in place. "They'll sort you there."

"No," Mary shook her head and stood, the attempts of the boys to hold her back nothing but the brush of a pair of annoying flies. "It's the only way."

The fug of their voices could not penetrate the repeating phrase _she'll prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep like death_. A phrase spoken by voice she knew. A voice she loved. A voice she wondered if she heard now or if it was just her imagination in the last moments.

"No power on earth can change it." She whispered and her limp arm, formerly unresponsive to the instructions from her body, rose and placed her shining finger on the point of the spindle. A point that shocked her a moment before taking all the pain and ache and itch from her body in a second. A point that left Mary wondering at the ease of her body and the sparkle of the spindle just before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Grabbing for her chest, Anna staggered to the ground and dropped her staff. John was beside her in a moment, holding to her shoulders, but Anna could only shake and convulse. Her eyes filled with tears and she watched to scream to the sky and vomit and lose herself to catatonia all at the same time. It was as if ice ran through her veins while fire licked her skin and she wondered if the sensation racing through her was lightning that crackled and fizzled over her.

"Anna?" John's gentle shake almost dispersed the cloud settling on her soul but Anna heard the words ringing through her head as if spoken through the wall of time from her own mouth to her. A laughing, jeering taunt over the almost two decades between them. That stranger and herself.

 _She'll fall into a sleep like death… No power on earth can change it._

"It's done." Anna grabbed for John, her voice rasping and weak as she struggled to stand. His firm grim helped her and Anna barely took in the sight of the cottage, Mary's old cottage, as the place where her parting of temporal space left them. "She's done it. It's done."

"She's pricked her finger?" Anna nodded and John shook his head. "How?"

"The curse finds a way." Anna closed her eyes, shaking her head so the tears ran in jagged lines down her cheeks. "She's done it and now…"

"Where is she?"

"She's…" Anna opened her eyes for a second before closing them again to follow the trailing taunt through her mind. The taunt that beckoned her to witness the result of her words said in rage. "She's in the castle."

"Where in the castle?"

"I…" Anna shook her head, opening her eyes again. "I'll know when we're closer. I'll feel it."

"Then we'll need to get to the castle." John reached for Anna's hand and placed her staff in the other. "There's no time to lose."

They opened another hole, ripping through the air together, but arrived clutching at their sides and gasping for breath. Anna craned her head up, her hand almost welded to John's while the other clutched at her staff, to see the towering metalworks rising as a gauntlet around the castle. Strong spikes and deeply delved supports kept the lattice work of snarling metal wrapping the castle in its own blanket of metal thorns laced with mistletoe.

Anna risked a hand forward and immediately drew it back as the hiss of her skin on the metal left a burn to match those along the edges of her hands. She rubbed at them before backing up a pace and drawing John with her. They stumbled through the detritus at the base of the cliff wall and formed the foundation of the castle and regained their breath together.

"His metallurgists." Anna turned to John. "You never said they encased the castle in iron and mistletoe."

"I didn't see this when I was here last." John paused, "Perhaps he did it once he had Mary back. Protect her from you on her birthday."

"I wouldn't doubt it." Anna surveyed the base. "She's not up somewhere you can see the sun."

"Then she's in the warren of corridors beneath the castle." John pointed, "There's a drainage tunnel that way. It'll be the best way inside unless we can spirt ourselves through another schism."

Anna shook her head. "The mistletoe keeps us out. It's why we're here instead of inside the castle." She picked up the skirt of her dress. "Show me the drain and let's hope he didn't cover it with mistletoe as well."

They worked around the base of the castle, the smell worsening the closer they came to the drainage gate. It was, thankfully, left unguarded and uncovered but the smell almost drove them both back. Anna took a deep breath and drew a circle in the air before stepping into the space. A bubble enveloped her head and she repeated the same for John so the air filtered somewhat to deaden the stench. It was not perfect but it was enough to get them through the gate and into the tunnel with ankle-deep standing water they pushed through.

John's innate sense of the direction quickly moved them toward drier tunnels and eventually toward a gate into the interior corridors of the castle. In the half-light from sputtering torches they worked through the back ways as they used John's direction and Anna's increasing pull to where the curse dispersed until they found a doorway. One that called to Anna as if it had a voice of its own.

"This one." She nodded and John went for the handle. It pushed forward but hit something, grating and bumping along the floor.

"It's blocked."

"Here." Anna stepped around John and put her hand to the door. She closed her eyes to focus and, despite the influence of the mistletoe-covered metal surrounding the outside of the castle, Anna found the energy to shatter the door and whatever blocked it. The shards exploded in a second but she caught them all in the air, holding them in place before they gathered to a pile of kindling in the center of the floor so Anna and John could enter the room.

A room where Mary lay prone on a broken and dusty chaise lounge and the surprised faces of the two young men from the cottage stared dumbfounded as Anna and John entered the room. They shuffled, as if to protect Mary, but all Anna had to do was raise her eyebrow at them to have their bowed heads stepping to the side. Giving her the space to take in Mary's sleeping form, the slow rise-and-fall of her chest, and the haunting echo of her voice again.

She ignored the broken spinning wheel, kicked to the corner by the anger of one of the two young men, and knelt by Mary's side. Gently stroking over the girl's fingers let no indication that Mary recognized Anna's presence and she took a breath before laying her hand over Mary's. A firm squeeze preluded a kiss to Mary's forehead before Anna rose and faced the men in the room.

"We need to get her out of here."

"And go where?" The auburn one, Branson, dared her with his words but Anna ignored his tone. "The Moors?"

"Her cottage." Anna looked at Mary over her shoulder. "She deserves to be in her own home."

"I agree." The other one, Matthew, stepped forward, silencing Branson with a look. "How do we get her there?"

"I can't take her there myself, not with the metal covering the castle." Anna looked at the two young men and John. "Can you carry her from the castle?"

"Branson and I can lift her if you make sure no one sees us." Matthew paused, "What is your plan?"

"We'll have protection once we're out of the influence of the castle." Anna turned to John. "I need you to gathered the Fair Folk. They'll have to protect and hide us as we move Mary."

"I'll get them." John gave a nod and resumed his raven form. A soft croak and he was gone through the corridors.

Anna snapped her fingers, bringing a line of gold curving out the door and into the corridor, before turning to Matthew and Branson. "Follow me."

Matthew and Branson each took one of Mary's arms, holding her between them on their shoulders with their other arms keeping her legs bent and off the floor. Anna opened her hand and blew on the three of them so both young men blinked and gave a cough. "To give you the strength. It's not a short distance."

Neither said anything as Anna led them into the corridor. They followed the line of gold, only bright enough for them to see and only long enough to lead them to the next turn or through the warren of passages. When it fizzled or sparked they secreted themselves into corners and alcoves to avoid soldiers and servants before working their way to one of the back entrances of the castle. One that required they wait for the delivery men and carts to clear out before sneaking across the courtyard and through the back gate.

A gate that had both men dropping their jaws again at the line of multi-colored Fair Folk. They all bowed to Anna as she passed, curling and overlapping as Anna led the two men carrying Mary through the gauntlet and the town. A town that did not seem to notice them of the fairies as they passed. A town so completely oblivious that they paused in their motions or wove between them with such grace it was as if the Fair Folk were not even there.

And, as Anna's work instructed, they were not. Like the Nest, the Fair Folk, Anna, the two men, and their charge were temporarily removed from time. They wove between the seconds and through the moments to make their way between mankind to the edge of the woods. Woods that beckoned and called for them with the tittering and twittering of the remaining pixies, fairies, sprites, and Fair Folk who guarded their road all the way to the cottage.

Once Matthew and Branson laid Mary on her bed, they almost collapsed. Anna had John take them down to the sitting room while she positioned Mary on her bed and made her as comfortable as she could. The bed and room that felt so familiar and yet now almost stank of Anna's mistake.

She sat on the edge of the bed, putting her hand over Mary's again, and ran her thumb over the skin of a hand that echoed as if it were cold but had no temperature at all. Mary existed between the seconds now as well. Frozen apart from time as the curse kept her tantalizingly close and yet so far away.

"I might've asked your forgiveness once." Anna whispered, as if raising her voice would disturb the sanctuary of the room. "For being gone so long. For never telling you the truth. For… Letting you suffer like this. But…"

She wiped at her eyes, a habit with which she wished circumstances did not require she become overly familiar. "But I won't ask that of you. What I did to you, what I've done to you, I unforgivable. I know that. I've known it for a very long time."

Anna let out a shaking breath, trying to find the words for her confession to a girl that could no longer hear her. "I was so lost. Lost in hatred and rage and revenge and pain… I was cut by someone else and I bled on you. I thought if I hurt Green, if I hurt you, then I wouldn't hurt any longer and yet…" She choked on a sob and tried to wrangle a breath past it. "And yet I hurt more now."

The odd laugh that escaped her matched to the haphazard brush at the tears on her cheeks. "How odd it is. To love someone. To give them the power to hurt you because you care so much about them that their hurts become yours. That the hurt I caused you only hurt me worse. I drank poison, Mary, thinking it would kill someone else and leave me whole."

Anna gripped tighter at Mary's hand. "You healed me, Mary. Not alone and not wholly but giving myself over to the idea of caring for you, of loving you, of being there for you healed me. It gave me back what I didn't deserve and now… Now I've lost that because I was foolish and angry and I acted when those emotions ruled me. I hurt you and hurt myself in return."

Her fingers trailed off Mary's as Anna straightened. "I might've lost you forever but I swear that no harm will come to you as long as I live. And for however long afterward you're here, this house will keep you safe. This place will be your sanctuary and your home until the curse breaks. And, for each day, I'll miss your smile and your laugh and the qualities innumerable about you that make you as wonderful as you are." Bending over, Anna kissed Mary's forehead. "I'll be here when you wake, no matter how far away that day is."

She turned away from Mary and started at the sight of Matthew in the doorway. They stared at one another, Anna's hands firming on her staff as Matthew swallowed. He went to speak but Anna held up her hand and shook her head before stepping to the side.

Taking a place in the corner, as sentinel and guardian, Anna watched as Matthew crossed the distance to Mary's side. He sat in the depression on the bed that Anna's weight left, and placed his hand over Mary's. His thumb stroked over her skin before he bent down to Mary's ear and whispered something. Something Anna forced herself not to hear as she watched Matthew turn his head to place his lips carefully over Mary's.

A shudder passed through the room as a shockwave of green dispersed from Mary's body to fade into the air. Anna seized in a breath as the weight in her soul shattered in time with Mary's eyes opening. She blinked and frowned up at Matthew before giving him a smile. A smile that led to a kiss Anna turned her head away to avoid seeing or interrupting.

It only took a second for her to turn back and see Mary smiling at her. "I knew you weren't dead."

"No, I wasn't." Anna crossed the distance and took Mary's extended hand. "I wanted to apologize, for not saving you."

"Which time?"

Anna echoed Mary's smile, "Any of them."

"I forgive you." Mary sat up with Matthew's help and held tightly to Anna's hand. "I forgive you… But only on one condition."

"Name it."

"That you forgive me the horrible things I said to you."

"Already long forgotten." Anna could only smile through a new batch of tears. "If you keep making me cry I'll be no good to you."

"I think it's a good look on you." Mary shrugged, "Shows you're just like the rest of us."

"Filled with mistakes and regret?"

"No," Mary shook her head. "Human."

"If you say so." Anna squeezed Mary's hand. "If you say so."


	19. War on the Moors

"What now?" Anna looked up from her aimless gaze through the window to note Mary, Branson, and Matthew around the table, all looking to her.

"Sorry?"

"I said," Mary swallowed and pushed her bowl away with the hand not wrapped firmly around Matthew's. "What now?"

"Whatever you like." Anna nodded toward the two men. "The three of you would be welcome in the Moors, if that's your wish. Or I can take you anywhere else you might feel safe. It's your choice."

"Dangerous offer." Mary grinned, "Who knows what I may ask."

"I doubt you'll ask to go anywhere more dangerous than staying here is." Anna pushed herself to her feet, holding to her staff. "Your absence in the castle could not have gone unnoticed and it won't take a great intelligence to guess you would try to put yourself back in the direction of the Moors."

"Or here." Mary's voice quieted but Anna shook her head.

"This place, like the Moors, is protected." She gave a small smile to bring a little light back to the ashen faces at the table. "No one's getting here without a fight and, if they try, I intend to give them one."

"That might be something to see." Branson shrugged, going back to the food left on the table. "All those armored bastards getting their shiny asses handed to them by the Evil Fairy and her witch powers."

Mary opened her mouth as if to argue but Anna held up a hand and shook her head. With a nod, Mary turned her attention back to the two others at the table and Anna left the cottage. The door thumped softly behind her as Anna walked the grassy stretch to the edge of the trees where John sat against a tree with his eyes closed and breathing even.

Laying her staff against another trunk, Anna took the spot on the ground next to him. "You've not been inside since Matthew woke Mary."

"I didn't want to disturb their time." John's eyes slowly opened and he looked at Anna. "And I can't say I recovered as quickly as you did after what we accomplished today."

"You get used to it." Anna laid her hand over John's, taking his fingers between hers. "And I think you performed marvelously, in case you worried that I forgot about all you've done for me."

"I didn't forget." John's fingers tightened on hers a moment and he smiled, finally turning to look at her. "You've been a bit preoccupied with rescuing your godchild and ensuring she's protected."

"I wouldn't want you to think it was at the cost of you, no matter the reasons." Anna leaned her body toward John, their foreheads touching. "You are the rock of the foundation you helped rebuild for me. I don't want you to forget that any more than I want you to think I'd forget you."

"Impossible, I'm too charming."

Anna shoved at him and they both gave the little laughs they could manage with their depleted energy. "What now?"

"Are you asking for my opinion?"

"I'm hoping you've a better answer than the one I gave them."

"I don't know what you told them but, I'll bet, it is the best answer." John took a breath. "They'll come for her."

"I know." Anna sighed, "I offered them the Moors, as a place to hide."

"How long could the Moors hold against those mistletoe-soaked metal weapons?" John turned to Anna. "That wall of thorns isn't quite equal to the metal thorns Green built around the castle."

"He can't take that with him." Anna sighed, "Which is something."

"But he can bring his army with him." John paused, "And if they're armed…"

"We'll need more than just us to fight him." Anna flexed her jaw, "I don't suppose that our fellows to the north would agree to protect the Moors after our rather definitive exit."

"It'd be humbling to ask them."

"I'm not above bowing and scraping to save my people." Anna looked toward the cottage. "To save her."

"How would you ask them?" John held up his hand and Anna noted the tremor there. "Neither of us are in any condition to travel."

"I'll have to find another way." She went to stand but John held her hand.

"Stay a minute. The world will turn without us either way."

Anna opened her mouth to argue but snorted and sat back down. "I could stand to stay off my feet."

"Exactly." John's hand did not leave hers. It only settled to stroke over her skin. "Rest awhile and perhaps we'll find a solution."

"You're rather optimistic."

"I'm just trying to see more than problems."

"Have you found any solutions yet?"

"Not yet." John gave her a smile, "But I've got a few ideas."

"Do you now?" Anna shivered as his fingers moved higher up her skin. "And what might those ideas entail?"

"Nothing you'd want the three young people in that cottage seeing." John grinned at Anna, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Or knowing about just yet."

"They're not ignorant."

"Maybe but," John kissed just below her ear. "I don't want to be the one responsible for their education."

"An education you received through spying?"

"Now, now," John let his tongue trace near her ear. "You've never complained about the methods before."

"I wasn't a Fairy Godmother in charge of three young people before." Anna turned, her hand framing John's face. "They'll be safe here for a little while. I've made sure of it."

"Is that a request?"

"More like an invitation." Anna put her lips near John's ear. "Take me somewhere we can be alone. Please?"

John's fingers wrapped around hers and they sparkled with gold and silver together before he split the air behind them. It only took a second and they were in the boughs of a tree, standing above the Moors. Anna peeked over the side and drop below her, as familiar as the skin on the back of her hand. But the tree itself felt different. Felt…

"It's song," Anna breathed, pressing the flats of her hands to the tree so her blood beat to the barely-there song. "I can hear it."

"Then I hope you don't mind that I made some alterations." John extended a hand so Anna could step into the last, nest-like structure supported stably between the branches of the tree. "I thought it might be better for two this way."

"You built this?" Anna paced the space, not large but comfortable and shaded when John pulled a tarpaulin over it. "When?"

"In those months, after you told Mary the truth, you were… despondent." John shrugged, pulling at his fingers. "I thought I could occupy myself with something and this was… This was what I made."

"Why?"

"Before they said anything about it, Hugin and Munin, I wanted to ask you to be my… mate." John frowned, "That's not the right word, I think, and it sounds odd but I thought, if you wanted, you could-"

"Yes." Anna nodded, crossing the short distance between them. "Whatever else happens and no matter what anyone says, yes. A thousand times, yes."

"Yes?" John blinked at her and Anna took his face between her hands to kiss him soundly before drawing back.

"Yes." Anna wondered if her face could split in two. "For now and always."

"For good and proper." John mimicked her hold, his fingers trailing over her skin and his thumbs tracing her cheekbones. "I couldn't be happier than I am at this moment. Never in my life could I imagine this."

"I could never have believed it."

John leaned forward again, wrapping his arms around Anna in the nest he built for them, and whispered, "Believe."

If Anna had her way, they would have been together in seconds with whatever boundaries still remained between them tossed aside without a care. But John stopped her. John held her hand, forced them to slow, and drugged her with kisses dotting her skin until Anna melted in his hands. She was at his mercy and John took every ounce of care and affection to be worthy of the act.

As he always did.

With a mind as loud and furiously frenetic as hers, Anna struggled to give him all her attention. The gentle tug of the magic guarding the borders or the wards that protected the cottage hummed at the back of her brain while the songs of the forest and the Moors offered their own harmonies to clash and merge in her thoughts. And when John paused, his lips leaving her skin so slowly it almost hurt to be parted from him, Anna shook her head.

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"My mind is so loud." Anna took one of John's hands, pressed so delicately to her neck she only knew it was there because of the tickle of his fingers, and moved it to her temple. "Can you feel it?"

"Yes." John nodded and Anna noted the silver sparkle in his eye. "Let me share it so it's not quite so loud in there."

His forehead touched hers and, for a moment, blissful quiet reigned in her brain. Anna exulted in it, in the space they suddenly found where the noise of the world left them alone, and opened her eyes to meet John's. To meet the triumphant stare that merged into his self-satisfied grin.

"It's just us now." He breathed, the whisper in his voice calming the excitement at their newfound privacy. "And all you need to do, right now, is feel me. Hear me. Respond to me."

Lowering them both to the downy softness of the nest, John's whisper thrilled through Anna's blood as his kisses resumed on her face. "Love me."

"Forever." Anna twisted her mouth to meet John's and took control of the kiss as her body relaxed in his hold.

It was what she could offer. With her tongue fully engrossed in tasting him, Anna succumbed to the seductive pull of his fingers against her skin. His obedience at her mouth did not follow to his hands as they soon swept over her exposed skin. And he even succeeded in escaping her hold over his mouth when the firm press of his hands opened her thighs enough for his fingers to delve between them.

Anna's breath hitched and her neck arched back. Her back joined in the curve of her body as John's palm pressed against her clit and his fingers worked into her. The sensations he encouraged only made his work easier as each stroke of his fingers slickened her until the noise of his fingers entering her had Anna reaching for John's jaw so she could distract herself with a kiss.

But no kiss could keep her from digging her fingers just behind his jaw as John's crooked inside her. The determined claw past the unconscious clench of her internal walls to reach the spot that had her body coiling like a spring, left Anna sucking for breath. And then crying out when John left her breathless as her body released under his dedicated care.

Slumping back, Anna's legs fell open and she could barely manage a smile as John slotted himself between them. He waited, positioning himself above her, and gently beckoned her back to him with the slow stroke of his scorching arousal against her fizzing folds. She moaned at the sensation and tightened her knees against his hips as her hands flailed to find purchase on his skin. John obliged her, maneuvering lower so her hands could hold his shoulders but he waited.

"I love you, Anna. Forever and always."

"I love you too." Anna held tightly to him, "However, whatever, whenever."

He entered her and Anna clutched at John with everything she had. Her fingers dug into his side and shoulder while her knees tightened toward his hips before locking her ankles behind his ass. Her most stable hold, however, came from gripping tightly with her vaginal muscles. It caused John to growl into the skin of her shoulder as he struggled to keep himself steady.

Anna tipped forward, her hips angling to take John deeper and force him to strike near her clit, and she gave an unintentional groan in his ear. "Move John. Let it all go and move, please."

Her invitation set John loose and one of his hands seized her hip to hold her in place as he surged forward. The vague thought, at the edge of the pleasure John invited with each thrust that rubbed his pelvic bone against her clit, was to commend John's building skills. For his speed did nothing to disturb the nest.

Their nest. Anna managed a moment of a grin before John's fingers clawed into the flesh of her ass while his head dipped lower to suck hard at her breast. Her body tightened, impossibly, around John as his speed increased. Their motions thrust them together until John's back arched. It sent Anna reaching between them, as he shuddered and stuttered, to meet his end with one of her own.

The mixture of their cries almost drown out the noises their distraction allowed to enter their slice of peace but once John's weight settled over her and his breath heated her neck, Anna forgot all else. Her fingers traced over his skin and ignored the patches that stuck with drying sweat. Sweat she tempted fate by risking the dart of her tongue to lick at it.

John lifted his head, hazy eyes narrowing at her. "Are you ready again?"

"For you?" Anna dragged her finger along his shoulder before tracing the trail with her tongue. "Always."

"I," John dipped down, as if he could kiss the grin off her face, "Am not quite as dexterous as you."

"I'm sure I can manage." Anna pressed the palm of her hand to his forehead. "How do you drown it out?"

"I'm a man and we can only focus on one thing at a time." John kissed the inside of her wrist before maneuvering to the side, laying next to Anna. "All I have to do is think about you and it all fades away."

Anna let her hand trace down his face and over his chest. "You're a far more romantic person than I am."

"Hence the inscrutable irony that I'm not, in all technicality, a person." John propped his head on his hand. "How did you ever love him?"

"I was young and I didn't understand what love was." Anna focused on drawing a nonsense pattern on John's chest. "There are times I still don't understand how you can possibly love me."

"Why?"

"Because," Anna raised her head. "All I've ever done for you was force you to become a man and then send you off to do my bidding. I've never sacrificed for you the way you have for me."

"You were willing to face down a flock of your people for me." John put his hand over Anna's. "That's not nothing. That was a sacrifice."

"One that means we'll fight alone in whatever battle comes to us." Anna sighed, "Because as energized as I feel after sharing time with you, it's not enough to fly to the Nest and back."

"Then we'll do it on our own." John sat up, waving a hand toward the Moors as he settled on his knees. "We've got all those who live here to fight for their homes. To defend the Moors the way you've defended them for their entire lives."

"And what if they won't?"

"Then they'll have to confront the idea that they'll be defending themselves for the rest of their lives if they let you fall." John let his hands fall of his knees as Ann stayed on her side, propping her head up on her hand. "They've got to care about their homes."

"I think it's me that don't care too much about." Anna sighed, giving John a smile. "But I love the way you'd defend me to myself."

"I'll defend you," John leaned over, nudging Anna's nose with his. "To whomever and whatever might dare to think you're not worthy of the world."

"The world?"

"More, if I can figure out how to express it in a word." John's lips paused just above hers. "I'd give all that to you if I could, Anna."

"I only need you." Anna wrapped an arm around John's shoulders and dragged him closer, positioning him between her legs again. "Forever and always."

"Greedy." John taunted, his hand running down her side before teasing near her clit. "Wanting so much from me."

"Well," Anna put her other hand on his chest and pushed, forcing John to lay on his back as she settled on his abdomen so John's thickening arousal rested in the crease of her ass. "Then I'll not take anything from you."

"No?" John's hands settled on her thighs, running up them as Anna tipped forward enough so her knees slid over the down of the nest and she spread her legs to give John a view that dilated his eyes.

"I'll give until you take." Anna crossed her arms over her chest before dragging them slowly down her torso. "You tell me when, John."

Her fingers trailed over her skin. So different from John's fingers and not covering nearly as much ground in a single stroke but enough to set her nerves tingling. Pausing at her breasts, Anna tried to remember how John touched and kissed her there to hitch her breathing as she tugged and pinched at her nipples. The sensations rolled through her and Anna could not help but rock back toward John's arousal until his groan distracted her.

But John's hands remained mostly inert on her thighs, firming when Anna drifted her fingers between her legs. His gaze stayed steady on her fingers and Anna watched John's face contort through a number of emotions in time to the twitch in his jaw. Playing her fingers delicately, her swollen and sensitized folds sparking at the light touch, Anna brought her other hand to her mouth.

John barley registered when she sucked a finger between her lips but his eyes widened when she used the same finger to press inside her. The finger she swirled so carefully before offering it to John. His mouth closed around it and he dragged his tongue slowly over Anna's digit to leave them both quivering.

Their eyes did not part as Anna continued her efforts, delving deeper and seeking for the places inside her that John found by her sounds. Places that elicited the same sounds again but with less force. Sounds meant to taunt and encourage until John's hands gripped bruises into her skin.

His strong pull gave Anna no time to react. No time to gloat as he dragged her knees through the down of the nest to put her center over his mouth. All Anna could do was reach forward to hold to the side of the nest as John feasted between her legs. And he did not release her until Anna's legs shook and quivered around his head, almost boxing his ears when she came in a rush of whimpering cries.

He settled her back, rising up as his legs bent to form a support for her sagging body. Anna struggled to breathe, her chest filling and caving almost as quickly as her heart beat, but she grabbed for John. Pulled herself to him so their mouths could meet and she could try to taunt him with the flagging energy in her body as she sought out her flavor in his mouth.

John did not succumb. Not as she expected. For as he kept their mouths together by a firm hand at the back of her head, John maneuvered their bodies to slide inside her. There was no sudden thrust or a determined motion but a steady rocking that seated him inside her.

Then he paused.

Anna did not break the kiss but she pulled back just enough to meet his eyes before tangling her tongue with his. That was all it took for his hands to run over her body. For one to grip tightly at her hip and keep her in position as they rocked together and for the other to hold at her breasts. Breasts Anna pressed tightly to John's chest when her arms almost knotted around his shoulders and her ankles locked just above the rise of his ass.

With their bodies fit so tightly together, they struggled to get the movements they wanted but refused to release the other. Instead they only ground harder, thrust in the confines of their position, and Anna risked losing her grip to snake her hand between them. It was enough for her fingers to excite her clit and, as if by fate, to run over the bit of John exposed between his thrusts.

They came together, burying their moans in the skin of the other, as they clutched so tightly they were one body. One being hearing the song of the tree under them. One body at peace with the universe about them.

The tangle of limbs and languishing smiles had them drifting off to sleep together. Falling to the seductive lull of the other's heartbeat until there was nothing to do but answer the call. To heed the bid of exhaustion in the hopes of finding rejuvenation together.

Night passed to early dawn when Anna opened her eyes. Without the sun to stand as the guilty party in her rousing, Anna looked to John. But he still breathed easily, held in slumber next to her, and even rolled as she rose from his side.

The quiet of the Moors made the hair on her arms raise where it might have soothed her and Anna reached out to feel for the voices of the trees. To hear their song flooding into her again as she sought for the sounds that ever existed at the back of her mind. Sounds that now rang with fear.

Dressing quickly, Anna nudged John awake. He blinked blearily at her but rose at the sight of the finger over her lips to dress himself almost as quickly. Anna left him to it, reaching for the wards protecting Mary's cottage and located the three bodies meant to be there. None had moved and all three were safe so Anna drew back to trace the boundaries of the Moors.

There, just beyond her sight, the wall of thorns cried. Cried out in pain as fire and stinging mistletoe sap burned through it. With a snap of her fingers Anna split the air to arrive at the wall to see the flames roiling slowly over the thorns. Flames fed by a sticky substance that burned fierce and hot, forcing Anna back into John as he followed her to the position.

"Greek fire." John muttered, "Morrigan used it to burn ships. Water will only feed it and nothing I know stops it."

"Then we'll need a way." Anna flinched away from the fire. "I can feel them screaming John. They're crying out to me."

"Then you leave this to me and you handle Green." John kissed her. "I'll find you and you'll come back to me."

"Of course." Anna put her hand to John's face, kissing him hard. "However, whatever, whenever."

John vanished in an instant and Anna stomped her foot once. Her staff appeared in her hand and she gripped it hard to focus her thoughts. The wall of thorns rose up before her and Anna directed them to smash down on the soldiers just on the other side. Soldiers who screamed in agony just like the wall did as Anna forced it to sever the burning and rotting portions so she could toss them toward the war machines hurling balls of the sticky, licking fire.

Fire that licked at the war machines now and left the soldiers scurrying and scuttling away as Anna walked through the breach to face them. Her clothing turned black as she did so, trailing behind her to edge red like the flames she left behind as her staff glowed gold in the trail of the war she set over the wall of thorns. A wall quickly growing over the portion Anna severed.

A wall to match the imposing metal spikes pushed forward by more soldiers. Anna's chest caught and her tightened her fist on her staff before slamming it into the ground. Hard enough to send soldiers falling over as the ground rolled and roiled under them. They recovered but not before shouting and screaming in fear as the stone golems, whose line they crossed, rose from the ground and growled with their granite mouths at them.

"Leave now and no more harm will come to you." Anna called out, her voice magnified to echo and spread over the approaching army.

"Not until you've returned the body of the princess." She glanced up, flicking her fingers to have one of the golems raise her high enough to see Green astride a white horse in gleaming armor. "We know you have her. For whatever sick and dark rites we know not but we will take her back from your foul clutches."

"There's no body to return for your princess is not dead." Anna guided the direction of the golem so she stood in line with Green's sight. "Mary is alive."

"You dare speak her name?" His fist firmed over his sword and Anna watched Green's face contort. "You speak the name of my child to me?"

"I do." Anna brought up her hand, spinning it in the air to send a solid image to Green, one of Mary sitting at the table with Matthew and Branson. "She's alive."

"Witchcraft and lies." Green screamed, his sword unsheathing to cut through the image. "You've killed her and now you'd fool us all again."

"I've no interest in doing anything but protecting my people and my lands." Anna paused, a tug at the back of her mind forcing her to turn so she saw the creatures of the Moors gathering on the edges of the wall of thorns. "The people who wish to be left alone."

"Give us back our princess." One of the soldiers called and the chant went up from the others.

"She'll go back to you if she wishes, and not before." Anna said, her voice silencing them all. "It's her choice."

"And I choose not to." Anna turned as Mary, with Matthew and Branson at her side, emerged from the Moors. "I've no desire to go back with any of you."

"Mary!" Green cried, pushing his horse forward but the presence of the golem stopped the beast just short of bucking its rider. "Free yourself from her hold and come back with me. Come and be safe."

"Locked away in your tower?" Mary snorted, "Not bloody likely."

Green's face contorted and he leveled his sword at Anna. "The witch has bewitched her. We must free the princess by killing the Evil Fairy who cursed her all those years ago. To me!"

The soldiers gathered and Anna bid the golem bear her higher. High enough to avoid the first volley of arrows. Arrows, her senses tingled as they rushed by her, coated in the sap of mistletoe and born from trees bearing the plant.

Anna twirled her staff, blocking the arrows and sending them back in a rush of wind to clatter over shields and strike the unready. Others dashed for the line of golems and met swift ends as the hardened fists of stone crushed them in moments and drove divots in the lines. But those that escaped the fold ran into the tugging, viney clutches of the roots coming from the trees that rose up with the wall of thorns to strikes and bat away those attempting to enter the Moors.

With a swift word, Anna had Mary and the two young men carried away but another golem before she closed her eyes. The cries of the field died in her ears and she focused on her center. On the place within herself where the dragon lay. Where the power of creation bubbled and boiled until she released it. Power that came forth in a moment.

Rising to the sky, Anna spread her wings. Great red wings that edged with white as she soared above the battle. As she directed the golems to smash and tear the war machines hurling balls of fire at the Moors to pieces. As she commanded them to shatter the metal imbued with the sap of the mistletoe until the shards of the weapons scattered and shined over the field.

A field Anna flew over on great wings with a burning tail. A field she swooped down to scatter and destroy as she burned a path through the soldiers. They shrieked in their armor and as they clawed at their brothers but Anna tore her fiery path through them all the same. A path she almost commenced again.

But she noted one of the soldiers. A man now where she once recognized a boy. A man who called to those who wished to lay down their arms and took to supplicating the great, flaming bird circling the sky above them.

Anna took another pass through the field, leaving a swath of destruction in her wake but keeping a distance between herself and those casting aside their weapons of war. The second path left more running to join the first group, tossing down their weapons to plead for mercy. Mercy Anna granted as a temporary reprieve when she swooped toward them and landed in her normal form.

"You," She pointed to the first one, the familiar one. "I know you."

"Yes," He lifted his head, risking to rise as Anna nodded at him, the sounds from the battlefield as the denizens of the Moors continued to defend themselves with the aid of the golems and the wall of thorns. "You spared me once."

"And yet you fight here again."

"To save our princess." He dropped his gaze. "Who did not want to be saved."

"It was her choice."

"I can see that now." He waved his hand behind him. "Spare these. Spare those who'll throw down their arms. Leave us to return to our families."

"And your king?"

"He cannot fight without an army."

Anna nodded, "Then you gain the surrender of the rest of your men. I'll hold mine back if you-"

Her words caught in her throat as the air left her lungs. Anna looked down her fingers curling as if to grab the sharp head of the arrow pierced through her chest. A slight glance allowed her periphery to see the shaft of the arrow sticking out of her back before she dropped to her knees.

The man before her, William… yes, that was his name, dropped with her and caught her as Anna tipped sideways. His hands wrapped the shaft and broke it at her back as Anna gasped out before he carefully withdrew the head from her chest. Drew it forward enough and when a sword swipe left a gush of blood over Anna and William fell back, the head dropped into her hand.

"Traitors, all." She blinked, her vision dotting and sparking as the gleaming armor, now coated in blood and mud, took over her vision. "Beheading wasn't good enough for him but needs must."

A metal palm settled over her wound and pressed down, the stinging bite of mistletoe sap leeching into Anna's blood and forcing her to cry out in pain. "What was it like, all those years, being a fairy creature without wings in a world where you no longer belonged?"

Anna gasped and cried out as Green pressed harder on her chest, cracking ribs with the force of his palm. "Did it hurt as much as this?"

Her fingers curled around the head of the arrow, ignoring the pain, and Anna narrowed her eyes to clear her vision just enough to see Green. To see the exposed patch of skin at his neck. To give her the focus to rise up and drive the head of the arrow there.

"As much as that." She fell back, heaving for breath as his shining metal hand scrambled and scrabbled at his neck. But he fell back, gurgling and choking to the side as Anna lay on the grass. "Perhaps more."

"Anna!" She could not even turn her head as hands held her, tenderly embracing her as the vague vision of John wrapped around her. "It'll be alright."

"No," Anna shook her head, "It won't."

"You'll survive this." His fingers went to touch her but he hissed away at the sizzling sound as his fingers brushed over the mistletoe. "It'll be alright."

"You can't touch it?" Anna frowned, a lethargy making it difficult to think clearly. "You've… You've never not touched plants before."

"Maybe I'm becoming more like you."

"That would be nice." Anna closed her eyes, "To be like me."

"Anna!"

But she could no longer hear him.


	20. Swift Wings, Soft Words

Her world grayed. Her form wavered. And Anna walked along the line that whispered to her. Not like the songs of the trees or the earth but a different song. An enticing one that bid peace and rest. That bid silence where there had only ever been noise.

Except for with John. Anna paused. With John there had been quiet.

"It could be quiet with him again." Anna turned, her face hardening at the sight of Hugin and Munin. Hugin bowed to her, "It's been no time at all."

"And what would you demand in return for whatever you offered me for that chance?" Anna waited but neither answered. "Did you come with an offer and not finalize the price you would exact for it?"

"There is no price to exact for what is your choice and has nothing to do with us." Munin stepped forward, "He weeps for you now, calls you back to him. Bids you return to his arms and uses the powers you bequeathed him to do it."

"Even if I wanted to return-"

"Do you?" Hugin interrupted her and Anna held her jaw steady.

"More than anything."

"Then what stops you?" Munin pressed and Anna restrained her temper.

"I was struck with an arrow made from the wood of a tree bearing mistletoe. An arrow whose head was coated in the sap from the same plant while the metal was forged in water reeking of the sap itself." Anna put a hand to her chest, the wound gone. "I cannot survive that."

"Perhaps not alone." Hugin put his hand in the air above where the wound should be. "But you've the power of the phoenix. A bird known for the powers of resurrection through flame."

"I'm no phoenix."

"Your people had the gift." Munin insisted, "You transformed yourself to the Vermillion Bird on the battlefield. You took flight and rained fire and-"

"If my people could resurrect then why am I the last of my kind?" Anna shouted them both down. "Why did none of them reappear. Why didn't my… Why didn't my parents come back that day?"

Hugin and Munin looked at one another before Hugin spoke. "Because you are the most powerful of your kind. The sweetest fruit the tree of your people ever bore. The last hope of your kind to make anew what had grown old."

"You are the phoenix yourself, as they never were." Munin tried to smile but Anna's face remained stony. "You have the power, as the last hope of your kind, to birth anew what was lost."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because, right now, a man you turned from a raven calls you back to him with the love you made together and the power you gave him." Hugin pointed over Anna's shoulder and she could hear John's voice. "Is that not the power of creation given to your people? Is that not the power that bids you rise again from the ashes?"

Anna swallowed, turning toward John's voice. "What if I fail him? Fail all of them? What if I'm not…"

"Ready? Enough?" Munin shook her head, "We never are."

Anna closed her eyes and stepped toward John. She followed the urging of his voice and the tug of her heart in his direction. Fighting past the pain that increased with each step away from the seductive peace, Anna broke through the barrier that separated her from John.

It ached and tore at her. Her breath came in ragged gasps as the itching ache in her body signaled the skin stitching itself back together. As her body expelled the poison of the sap onto the ground. As she wrapped herself in John's arms while the silver-gold light of their merging powers melded and encased them in a welcoming ball of impenetrable energy.

One that broke with enough force to send nearby soldiers sprawling. One that left Anna standing on shaking legs before launching herself into the sky on wings that erupted from her body as her form changed again. No longer sporting a flaming tail or flecked in red. Now only the large, albino phoenix cried to the skies and silenced the screams of war.

The field silenced at the sight of her and Anna flapped her wings to hold her position above them. Above the soldiers now gawking in terror and looking for someone to tell them how to respond. Above the Moorfolk hesitant and gaping at the sight of her. Above John as he waited below, form still rippling with silver. A form that erupted like hers to join her in the air as a black phoenix.

All quieted further at the sight of the two positioned above them. The soldiers quietly gathered under Mary's direction, with Matthew and Branson helping the golems collect the metal weapons. The Moorfolk paid their homage to Anna and John before sinking back into the trees, leaving only the golems to retake their positions in the earth.

Positions that Anna used as a landing platform as she released her hold on the form of the phoenix to stand next to John in their more human forms. The soldiers tried not to look at them and Anna cut a schism in the air to bring she and John to Mary's side before the remaining soldiers. Mary looked to Anna, throwing her arms over to her to hug tightly.

"I thought you were dead." She sobbed and Anna reached an arm around to pat the girl's shoulders. "When he… I thought…"

"It seems John is stronger than I thought." Anna extricated herself from Mary. "And so are you."

"I'm not strong." Mary shook her head, glancing back toward the soldiers. "I can't tell them what to do."

"You can." Anna nodded, putting a hand on Mary's shoulder. "And you must."

"What do I do?"

"Treat them the way you treat the Fair Folk." Anna stepped back. "And I'll give them a demonstration, if you'd like."

Mary nodded and Anna took another step back. She held a hand out and her staff materialized there, catching the attention of the soldiers. Striking her staff on the ground, the rolling response from the soldiers leaving them to crouch down, Anna listened for the wall of thorns to shrink back into the ground.

Gasps from the soldiers left her smiling before Anna took her staff in both of her hands. She bowed to Mary and held her hand out to John. He took it and Anna shrank back through another slice in the air to leave Mary with the soldiers.

They waited just inside the tree line for the soldiers to disperse. Anna watched them, her hand continually rubbing over her chest as the soldiers removed the bodies of the dead from the field, and held a hand out to John. "Thank you."

"You never have to thank me." He gripped her hand, holding tightly to it as Anna wrapped herself under his arm. John pressed a kiss to her head. "Thank you for coming back to me."

"Always." Anna closed her eyes. "I didn't want to leave you."

"But how?"

Anna turned in his hold, "Whatever I gave you, whatever power was inherent in my people that you now have, brought me back. You…" She took his hands, kissing them. "You brought me back, John."

"Me?"

She nodded, "The power of the phoenix is the power of resurrection and you used it on me. You used it to become a phoenix."

"Then I'm like you?"

"I guess." Anna shrugged, "But I don't know what I am anymore so I'm not sure I can tell you what that is."

"I'm like you." John cupped her face in his hands. "That's enough for me."

"Me too." Anna leaned into John's kiss.

They waited until the field cleared and Anna took John back to where Mary waited. The three of them watched as the soldiers, under the direction of Matthew and Branson, marched their wounded, their weapons, and the remainder of their materials of war home. When they were far enough away, Anna turned to Mary.

"There's a place I need to show you, before you bury your father."

"He wasn't my father." Mary almost spit but Anna put a hand on her arm.

"He was. And for whatever twisted, ugly thing he became, he will always be that. He was the king and he was your father." Anna released her hold, searching the field. "Did they-"

"He'll be buried in the crypts at the castle." Mary shook her head, "My first order of business will be to tear that horrible metal from the walls. To make it a place you can come again."

"Thank you." Anna smiled at her, taking one of her hands and guiding her over the field to where one stone golem, the only one not to disturb during the battle, rested. "But I needed to show you this."

"It's a golem, they line the Moors."

"No," Anna tapped her staff on the ground and the mouth of the golem opened to reveal two mossy tombs. "This is where my parents are buried."

"Your…" Mary gaped at the space. "I just assumed…"

"That I hatched alone in that tree on the cliff?" Anna shook her head. "My parents rest here, on the field where they were slain protecting the Moors, and this is where I want you to one day bury me."

"What?" Mary gawked at Anna, shaking her head emphatically. No, I won't bury you. You'll live forever and-"

"Mary." Anna covered her hands and held them until the girl calmed. "You lost your father today. You almost lost me. Please don't tell me that I can't die when I did just hours ago."

"But…" Mary flustered, struggling to find words. "I'm not a fairy. I can't open this tomb. I can't be-"

"You can." Anna released Mary's hands. "Because you'll now be the Queen your people need. The Queen mankind needs to finally make peace with the Moors."

"Peace?"

"Yes." Anna paused, "And the Queen the Moors needs to protect them."

"The Moorfolk won't accept me."

"They'll accept who I tell them to." Anna glanced at John, "Who _we_ tell them to accept."

Mary's lips pursed and she nodded. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"You'll be my advisor."

"I serve at my Queen's pleasure." Anna spread her arms and bowed, noting John following her lead to drop to one knee. "We're yours to command, Your Grace."

"Your Grace?" Mary whistled, putting her hands on her hips as she paced a moment. "That'll take getting used to."

"Just remember," Anna closed the mouth of the golem and led them back toward the trampled field of battle. "Do not ever be too used to it. That road leads only to wrath and ruin."

"Your wrath?"

"Perhaps." Anna gave a little smile, "But certainly your ruin."

"Then I promise," Mary held Anna's hand. "I won't disappoint you."

"I never doubted you for a moment." Anna placed her hand on Mary's shoulder. "Are you ready?"

"No."

"Then you'll do just fine." In a moment Anna split the air and the three of them walked into the courtyard outside the castle.

Mary calmed the people and the waiting guards, guiding them inside as she immediately set to giving orders for the metal lattice work surrounding the castle to be dismantled as soon as the metallurgists could manage. The others she directed to preparing for the wounded soldiers still making their way back from the field or to ready for the dead in need of burial. All of it turned into a hustle and mess that left Anna and John to slip quietly away.

Anna took them back to the nest, leaving her staff to fall over the edge and revert to a stick as it tumbled through the air. John gave a snort at her side and she turned to him, "Yes?"

"I just thought you'd want to keep that." He waved his hand toward the castle. "For aesthetic, anyway."

"Because you'd have the people scared of me?"

"I'd have them respecting you and therefore the young Queen they barely know who they're all bound to think is just a puppet of yours on the human throne."

"She'll prove them wrong in time." Anna sighed, wrapping her arms over her chest and stroking where the arrow pierced her. "I saw Hugin and Munin, in the moments when I was dead."

"What?"

Anna turned, nodding. "They were there, urging me back to you."

"And here I thought they wanted you for breeding with your kind."

"Given what they said, and what happened today," Anna reached for his hand, "I think you are my kind, John."

"Not quite." John nodded toward his back. "I've not got wings."

"Nor have I." Anna teased, drawing closer to him. "At least not in these forms. But now we can have wings whenever we want."

"But what if…" John's hands moved over the nubs of Anna's wingbones. "What if Mary can give you back your wings?"

"What?"

"You said Green had to give them back, that blood kept them from you." John shrugged, "Mary is his blood. She could give you back your wings."

"And leave you?"

"Never." John grinned, "I can have wings whenever I want, remember?"

Anna playfully shoved at him but John caught her legs and they toppled over. She landed on his chest and held herself there, "Do you truly think it's wise, since I died just hours ago, to do this?"

"What better way to reaffirm that we're both alive?"

"You've a point." Anna's fingers rasped over the material of John's shirt before she paused. "What if…"

John sat up, maneuvering Anna to straddle his legs so he could hold her close. "What's troubling you?"

"What if I have a scar?"

"Then I'll love you just the same." John's fingers moved into Anna's hair, slowly caressing her scalp. "There's nothing you could do, Anna, to make me love you less. Nothing."

"Curse another child?"

"I'll assume we'll have a little time to wait for another Christening." John nuzzled under Anna's jaw and she let her fingers curl into the material of his shirt. "Until then… I'll just have to prove that I love you."

Anna pulled back, her hands finding their place along John's jaw. "You never have to prove that to me."

They kissed slowly, John shifting back to lay flat against the downy fluff of the nest so Anna draped over him, and soon removed their clothes. Anna paused, the sight of the scar still holding a red tinge to her skin. But John only lifted his head to kiss over the scar between her breasts until Anna's fingers dug into his scalp and he turned his attention to her breasts. Turned his focus there while Anna positioned herself to sink down on him.

Moving slowly, more slowly than their previous two encounters just hours ago… although it felt like a lifetime, Anna and John rocked together. Their bodies stayed fluid and lax as they found the places and positions that gave them the most pleasure. That left their voices calling out to the skies. And finally left them sated together in the safe haven of the place they could now call home together.

Their quiet peace was short-lived.

The transition period for a people still leery about the Fair Folk and the possible involvement of the 'Evil Fairy' in the affairs of the kingdom made Mary's life difficult. Internal strife ran rampant until Mary barked them all to order. They fell in line as the Moorfolk living on the boundaries of human lands offered their help and assistance in helping the land grow better and stronger. As Anna herself participated in repairs and mending the homes of those lost in skirmishes with the Moorfolk. And of her gift of the cottage as a place for the sick and the wounded to be healed or pass in peace.

It settled the people so, as Autumn grew near, they accepted the plan to crown Mary Queen of Men and of the Moors on the edge of the dividing line. Mary chose the tomb of Anna's parents, insisting that only she, Anna, and John would know the significance of that particular golem while allowing the people to believe she chose the spot where her father died. In reality, Mary had no idea where the spot was and did not care. She entombed her father, with only Matthew, Branson, and Anna for company, and never visited his crypt again.

On the eve of Mary's coronation, Anna helped her finish the preparations in the throne room. Her eyes glanced at the white wings, still gleaming above the thrones, and started when Mary spoke. "He told me he offered to give those back to you but you spit in his face and cursed me instead."

"Mary, I-"

"I know he was lying." Mary shrugged. "He was a greedy, lecherous, conniving man. He had nothing to offer me but lies."

"I think he wanted to offer you this place." Anna paused, "Of all the things I've done, keeping you from your family, from the possibility of your family, was perhaps the worst of them."

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because…" Anna let out a breath. "I sometimes wonder if he might've changed on his own if he'd had your influence, like I did."

"You think he could've changed?"

"The magic of the pixies who blessed you with your gifts aside," Anna reached out a hand, brushing the backs of her fingers along Mary's cheek, "I think you could've softened his heart. And, in time, he might've been a better king."

"You don't think he would've made me vain and cruel and foolish like him?"

"It's possible but," Anna let her hand drop. "I'm trying to see the good in things. It's a far better way to live."

"I think so too." Mary glanced up at the wings. "Could I give them back to you? You said once that the person who took them had to give them back but… He was my father and I'm his blood so…"

"There's no harm in trying." Anna waited, not daring to breathe, as Mary worked the contraption to lower the wings so she could release them from the hooks holding them like the trophies they were.

The moment the hooks separated, the wings flapped. Soaring in a blur of white they circled the room. Anna stopped herself looking, too nervous and hopeful, and only gasped out when she felt a burning sensation at her back. The searing pain followed by a numb tingle that went through her whole body. A tingle that had her flapping her wings on instinct where they rejoined her body like the missing limbs they were.

Anna fell to her knees, sobbing as her hand covered her mouth, and wept on the floor until she could not cry any longer. Mary reached a hand down and Anna took it, her wings flaring out and almost toppling the girl with the burst of wind. But Anna caught her and set her right before bringing a wing forward.

"You can touch them, if you'd like."

Mary ran her fingers along the feathers and Anna shivered. "They're so soft."

"They're strong." Anna assured her, flaring them behind her. "And they're mine again."

"As they should be." Mary took a deep breath. "Perfect for the Fairy Godmother who'll crown me tomorrow."

"I'll be there." Anna bowed to her and then nodded toward the open window. "Do you mind terribly if I take flight?"

"Not at all." Mary stepped back as Anna jumped into the air and flapped her wings for a moment to gain the air she needed to shoot out the window.

She sailed through the air, diving low toward the ground and opening her wings at the last moment to soar into the clouds. The wind whipped past her and Anna wondered if she would wake from her dream to find herself in the nest. But each time she opened her eyes she only rose higher into the clouds on her wings. The wings she missed for so long.

John waited for her on the cliff and almost toppled from the nest when Anna landed. She spread her wings for him to see and John's jaw dropped before he struggled to crawl from the nest to touch them. "She gave them back to you?"

"She did." Anna took his hands. "I can fly again John."

"They're as beautiful as I remember." John let his fingers trace them again. "They're perfect. They're you."

"Not enough you." Anna took his hands back, kissing over them. "I wish I could give you wings."

"Perhaps you will." John nodded toward the tree and Anna frowned until he showed her. "Look."

She gasped out, crouching low and folding her wings back as she stared at the black fruit coming from the tree ensconced in a white flower. Pressing her hand to the bark, Anna heard the song loud and clear through the tree and almost toppled backward in surprise. The motion had John helping her stand as Anna pointed at the fruit, her fingers shaking.

"It's not flowered since…"

"Since your parents wanted to have you." Joh nodded, "I remember you telling me and Mary the story."

"But if it is… Then it's possible that… We could…" Anna took John's hands and fumbled them toward the tree. "Eat it."

"What?"

"Eat the fruit, please."

"It's black."

"It's not rotten. Fruit from this tree can't rot." Anna almost bounced on her toes as John plucked the fruit and the white flower floated through the air to land on the grass at the base of the tree.

John held up the fruit and bit into it, sucking the juices so none of it escaped. It only took him a few minutes to finish before he stepped back. They waited, for what neither could really say, but nothing happened.

After a moment Anna shook her head, "I'm sorry, it was ridiculous."

"No," John took her hands. "It's never ridiculous to hope."

"But to think…" Anna gave a sigh. "I guess I thought this meant you were the same as me. That we could…"

"Have a family?"

Anna nodded. "That maybe there'd be hope for more like us."

"How many phoenixes do you need rising from the ashes?"

"Just you." Anna took his hands, drawing him back toward the nest. "Forever and always you're all I'll need."

"Promise?" John followed her in, covering her with his body while his fingers traced the feathers in her wings until Anna shivered and keened for his continued attentions. "These are very sensitive."

"Yes they are." Anna looped her arms over his neck. "And yes I do."

"Do what?"

"Promise." Anna leaned up, kissing John soundly before whispering in his ear. "Would you like to see what they can do?"

Anna showed him as she rose above him. Her mouth had him erect and thick in minutes, the sheen of her mouth still on him as she left one final lick up the length of him. But even John's fingers, eager and educated, between her legs were nothing compared to the awe in his eyes as Anna rose above him. Rose and let her wins flare out to bathe them in the white light reflected and scattered through the feathers as she used their angles to steer her movements over him.

"Anna," He breathed, his hands delicate and adoring on her thighs and sides and breasts as he sat up to let his lips run over her wings. "You're a goddess."

"Because of my wings?"

"Because you're ethereal and uninhibited." John's kisses moved up the column of Anna neck, sucking hard at her ear so her wings fluttered and her body trembled. "Come with me. Come back to earth with me."

So she did. They came together and Anna settled against him as they fell back. Her wings covered them as they drifted off to doze and the beat of John's heart lulled her into sleep.

Sunlight filtered through to wake her. Anna snorted, adjusting her wings to try and better cover her face from the light, but something stopped her. Risking opening her eyes, Anna gasped herself awake as she realized the weight settled over her were not her wings but large, black wings covered in feathers like those of the ravens. Like the raven John…

Anna put her hand on John's shoulder and traced the bone to the jutting wingbones that flowed into the black wings fluttering over her own. She dragged her fingers down the feathers, so familiar from John's rave form, and cooed at the silky smoothness of them. A sound that roused John in time with the shiver he gave off at Anna's movements.

"That's…" He almost cried out at the sight of his wings. "What is this?"

"Your wings." Anna touched them again before turning to John. "You really are like me."

"How?"

"It was the least we could do."

Anna and John covered themselves and each other with their wings at the sight of Hugin and Munin. The two bowed to them and Anna stood, her wings covering her. "What do you want?"

"To compliment your work." Hugin gestured to the Moors. "What you've enabled between the Moors and mankind… it's to be commended."

"And respected." Munin stepped forward, nodding to John. "How are your wings suiting your human-like form?"

"Is this your doing?" John stood as well, taking the place at Anna's side.

"No," Hugin pointed to the tree. "You resurrected the tree between the two of you. We had nothing to do with it bearing fruit."

"Then why are you here?"

"To bring our people back to hope." Munin pointed and Anna followed the line of her finger, noting the soaring flocks of their kind settling in the distant trees. "When they heard the phoenix and her mate where reborn here, they demanded that we come. That we make peace so they could dwell in their home again."

"And you?" Anna stepped out of the nest, walking toward Hugin and Munin. "What do you want?"

"To pay our respects to a remarkable Fairy." Hugin bowed and Munin followed suit. "And to give our blessing to this tree. That it may continue to flower and bring others forth to be Defenders of the Moors… Like you are."

"After all that's happened between us?"

"You were right and we were wrong." Munin ducked her head. "It's difficult for us to admit but we were wrong. We acted in fear when we could've rebuilt the hope of our people."

"And now?"

"Now?" Hugin held out a hand to Munin and she took it. "Our time is ended."

"Ended?"

"We're not the defenders of our people any longer." They both went to the their knees before Anna. "You are."

As they rose, Anna watched them shoot straight into the air and lost them in the glare of the sunlight. She tried to follow them but it was as if they vanished from her sight. Sight that she turned back to the tree to note the flowering buds spreading over its surface. Her fingers traced the bark and almost cried at the volume and gusto of the song running through the veins of the tree.

"Anna?" She turned to look at John. "Is it true?"

"It's singing." Anna took his hand and pressed it to the bark above hers. "Can you hear it?"

John's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes. I hear it."

Anna could not stop herself. She pulled John over her, kissing him as their fingers interlaced on the bark of the tree. The song increased as they moved together. The beat of the tree deepened when John entered her and slowed to match their movements as John manipulated them. Each movement they made reflected in the song the tree sang under their hands. And, when they came together in a rush and flurry, Anna noted the springing bud of a multitude of tiny flowers all over the tree. Flowers of all colors and sizes.

She cried them, holding John close and listening to the song of the tree.

Later, when they stood on top of the stone golem marking the tomb of Anna's parents, she noted the trepidation from both sides. The Moorfolk gathered just short of the golem to watch as Anna raised the gold and silver crown over Mary's head, the designs reminiscent of the Moors themselves, and occasionally eyed those on the other side. Those on the other side being the gathering of Mankind as they watched their Queen crowned by her Fairy Godmother.

Neither side breathed as the crown settled on Mary's brown. A settling that left a ripple in the earth itself before all settled to cheer as Mary rose their Queen. As she embraced her Fairy Godmother before bowing to her peoples. People Anna and John left behind as they spread their wings and shot to the sky to soar far above them, protectors and defenders.

However, whatever, whenever.

Forever and always.

For good and proper.


End file.
